A friend texted me to ask if we could talk and my mind goes to 100 negative thoughts. “He’s mad about this, he’s going to accuse me of that, I’m going to have to defend myself.”
I’m walking down the street. The sun is shining and it’s beautiful and lush out. But I’m not enjoying it at all. I’m catapulted way into the future.
I’m trying to figure out what could be wrong and how I’ll respond to all the different negative scenarios that are popping into my head.
I talked to the friend later and he just wanted to catch up. There’s no drama here and I wasted my sunshine-y walk worrying.
And even if he had had a concern, it wouldn’t have helped me to try to guess exactly what could be wrong and try to figure out what to do. I probably would have guessed incorrectly and wasted my time.
And I imagine you’ve heard this before and know intellectually worrying doesn’t help but what I want to give you here is what you can do about it. These are the steps for how to enjoy the sunshine instead of worry-warting it away:
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- Notice how the worry is affecting your body physically. Worry is a vibration in your body. Breathe into it. Let the vibration be there.
- Repeat to yourself, “This vibration in my body is not going to kill me. It’s safe for me to feel this vibration in my body.” As much as you can drop the story the worry is telling you and be present with the physical vibration of the worry. Do this for a few minutes.
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It seems simple but for me, it’s actually been life changing to come back to my body and release the worry as much as I can. So the next time you find yourself worrying, try this.
And if you need more support around your worrying, the next Emotional Support Circle is TOMORROW (29 May, 2020) at 1:30 pm EST and I’d love to have you attend. It’s free or pay-what-you-can.
You’ll connect with other female-identified and non-binary artists, healers, and entrepreneurs and share any struggles you’re navigating with the circle. I’ll lead you through exercises that will help you to better understand what’s happening for you and what your next steps need to be.
Learn more about it here
And the next time you’re feeling worried, try to feel it as a vibration in your body. See what happens. If you can, stay with it for a few minutes. Breathe it in. Welcome it in. And notice how it slowly begins to transform.
Keep taking the best possible care of yourself,
Bryn
