Worried? How Not to Let It Get the Best of You
Photo: Hay House, Inc.
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Here are some specific suggestions for eliminating worry from your life:
1. Begin to view all of your present moments as times to live, rather than to obsess about the future. When you catch yourself worrying, ask yourself, "What am I avoiding now by using up this moment with worry?" Then begin to take action on what you are avoiding.
2. Recognize the preposterousness of worry. Ask yourself over and over, "Is there anything that will change as a result of my worrying about it?" For example: Will my worrying affect the stock market? Will my worrying affect the weather? Will my worrying affect whether or not my child has an accident?
3. Give yourself shorter and shorter periods of "worry time." Designate 10 minutes in the morning to worry—and when that time period is up, refuse to worry until your afternoon worry segment.
4. Make a worry list of everything you worried about yesterday or last year, and then see if your worrying did anything to affect the outcome.
5. Keep in mind the most useful advice I can give you for eliminating worry from your life; I learned it a long time ago from a teacher I had in India:
It makes no sense to worry about the things you have no control over, because if you have no control over them, it makes no sense to worry about them. And also, it makes no sense to worry about the things you do have control over, because if you have control over them, it makes no sense to worry about them. And there goes everything that it is possible to worry about. Either you have control or you don't, and worry is just a waste of your precious, present moments.
Dr. Wayne W. Dyer is an internationally renowned author and speaker in the field of self-development. He's the author of more than 30 books, including the New York Times best-seller Excuses Begone! How to Change Lifelong, Self-Defeating Thinking Habits.
Keep Reading from Dr. Wayne W. Dyer:
How to be spiritual every day
Are you driven to succeed? How to do it with real meaning
The resolution it's never too late to make
1. Begin to view all of your present moments as times to live, rather than to obsess about the future. When you catch yourself worrying, ask yourself, "What am I avoiding now by using up this moment with worry?" Then begin to take action on what you are avoiding.
2. Recognize the preposterousness of worry. Ask yourself over and over, "Is there anything that will change as a result of my worrying about it?" For example: Will my worrying affect the stock market? Will my worrying affect the weather? Will my worrying affect whether or not my child has an accident?
3. Give yourself shorter and shorter periods of "worry time." Designate 10 minutes in the morning to worry—and when that time period is up, refuse to worry until your afternoon worry segment.
4. Make a worry list of everything you worried about yesterday or last year, and then see if your worrying did anything to affect the outcome.
5. Keep in mind the most useful advice I can give you for eliminating worry from your life; I learned it a long time ago from a teacher I had in India:
It makes no sense to worry about the things you have no control over, because if you have no control over them, it makes no sense to worry about them. And also, it makes no sense to worry about the things you do have control over, because if you have control over them, it makes no sense to worry about them. And there goes everything that it is possible to worry about. Either you have control or you don't, and worry is just a waste of your precious, present moments.
Dr. Wayne W. Dyer is an internationally renowned author and speaker in the field of self-development. He's the author of more than 30 books, including the New York Times best-seller Excuses Begone! How to Change Lifelong, Self-Defeating Thinking Habits.
Keep Reading from Dr. Wayne W. Dyer:
How to be spiritual every day
Are you driven to succeed? How to do it with real meaning
The resolution it's never too late to make
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