Worry is a state of mind that is not productive. You can lose sleep when worry is left unattended… meaning, that after you’ve thought of what the worry theme is about and what you can do about it, then putting the worry to bed (and away from your good sleep 💤) is productive.
…If only it were that easy! 😉
But it’s a smart choice we get to make to let go of worry that drains.
We can’t always choose what happens to us or the thoughts that enter, but we can choose what we do in reaction and what thoughts we allow to stay.
Because worry can linger around like heavy gray clouds until it passes.
And walking away is one proactive way to get away from worry. At least temporarily…
You can quickly distract yourself from worried thoughts by changing your scenery.
Your new sensory environment changes your thoughts even if it’s just clearing your head walking down the hallway.
And this is because we get a new perspective in sight, sounds, and smells.
For me, colors, music, and pleasing scents break the pattern in my world.
And that can be for you too. You may not have yoga as a practice, so that could also be a pattern break.
In yoga poses, when you look up to the ceiling or sky, you get a different perspective than when you look down to the floor or to the side of the room that can change how you feel… calm, grounded, inspired…
Away from a mat, that’s the effect exciting travel has. When you explore a new city or place, your new senses are heightened.
If you spot a new painting or a new view from a picture window, this can be a joyful experience and mindful change of pace.
But as time passes, wherever you are and no matter how far you’ve traveled, the original worry thoughts creep back in.
The euphoric feeling from distractions wear off and the worry thoughts pop back in as easily as they popped out.
You can only distract yourself for so long and then your mind catches back up to reality.
…Your life reality (that can be worry-free thoughts).
But that’s why no one can run away from problems carried in the conscience for long in conscious living.
I tried one summer when I was 20, moving away to the beach. It didn’t work. 😀
But so often we choose to numb in semi-conscious daily living.
Like when we’re on a mission, we tend to forget nature buzzing around us carrying out life. They’re in their environment and we’re in ours, even if it’s within earshot.
As long as we’re not in harm’s way, we can miss what’s happening around us… and sometimes the calls to us that could lead to our greater life’s purpose.
If you think about it, a bird chirping is pretty loud in decibels. But often we don’t hear those over the voice and noises in our head…
And I’m no bird expert, but I’m told this bird in a tree is a red tailed hawk. It caught my eye because of its sounding vocal chords.
While I stopped to stare at the big bird for a few moments, I also noticed most people in the parking lot didn’t do the same.
…In fact, no one around me looked up. They just went on their busy day’s mission.
That’s how it is with us if we’re running on our mind’s mission. We don’t make time for interruptions… and sometimes opportunities calling us.
When we’re in a hurry, that’s even more true listening to our daily to-do list creating stress.
Worry and stress thoughts can be loud like that.
…So loud that we can miss that they’re robbing us of our full presence and better happy day.
And worry especially can play into our insecurities without us knowing (in semi-conscious living), affecting more than just our daily choices we make.
Worry is part of our DNA. It’s a Vata sign and trait in Ayurvedic terms.
Most of us have some or dominating Vata in us.
If you find yourself worrying for no good reason about everything going on in your life and others, then you likely have a Vata imbalance.
For most, that can be restored with simple lifestyle changes.
It’s not a sentence you’re stuck with in life.
If you want to know if you have a Vata imbalance and then how to restore, take the body balance quiz.
Your body helps us out by giving us preferences and through our senses.
But sometimes those are blocked from us for reasons like the noisy complex culture we’re in.
…So even if a meditation or yoga break sounds like a good idea, we could put it off even though we could definitely use the reset to help remedy our worry.
And transforming worry ways as a daily way is very possible… I know because I did just that. I got tired of holding onto worry. It’s too darn draining.
And as some friends would say, “Girl, I ain’t got time for that!”
One good habit that changed it all was to proactively pray off the worry. That was one of the 8 ways I shared to live out a don’t worry be happy life!
And another way is to picture yourself bold and fearless. Or put yourself in that frame of mind by reminding yourself how you feel and act when you’re confident…
If you’re a caring or reserved person, this is where you stop caring so much about what others think or what will happen.
You get out of your head and into your empowered self and abundant life.
It’s not about others or what happens next… it’s about you and your peace. What makes sense to you? Do it.
Let the outcomes happen. Your life is rigged in your favor with the Universe on your side.
You will be met on the other side with your bold confident moves.
The world wants the best YOU and you get to decide what that is!
So let go of worry and let go of the control of how things pan out. I know that was one lesson that took me the longest to embrace.
When I could trust “what happens next are meant to be’s,” that released me from unnecessary worry.
You’re equipped with the intuition. So when you have to make a choice, do your best and let the rest work out… even if it’s in another direction or environment.
