Sunday, May 19, 2013
The Various Habits that Steal Your Peace: Worry How often have intrusive worrisome thoughts kept you from sleeping at night, distracted at work, kept you from paying attention to your kids, or more important things in general? Often we worry about things we can do nothing about at the moment. We must wait to have the money to pay a bill. We have a deadline to meet for a project at work or school. The significant other is giving you grief or so you think. Of course the list of worrisome things can become infinite. A friend of mine once said they worried so much that when everything was going well they worried what in the world that was all about – everything going well couldn’t be true! Worry is a habit with a natural base in the human thought process. It is meant to safe guard as well as motivate us. Being worried about real things performs a needed function in our lives - it can lead to action.(*1) Recognizing that worries come from things both real and imaginary is imperative to understanding why we worry.(*1) Our imagination can speckle our internal environment with every manner of fearful possibility, many of which do not exist outside of our fertile imaginations.(*1) Nonetheless, they trigger the same damaging chemical and physical changes as a genuine emergency.(*1) This often leaves one physically and emotionally drained, as well as can have physical ramifications over the long haul. Worry can also become an obsessive behavior bordering on addictive. It is often challenging, to say the least, to control for some. Today let’s look at some of the practices or other habits that enable or promote this “Peace Thief” and it’s intrusion in our lives. Human’s often feed the monkeys that are on their back. 1. Lying, Gossip, and Keeping Detrimental Secrets: It is so funny that people who are grown misrepresent any number of things in their day-to-day lives. What is the result? Is so-n-so going to find out ..whatever it is? Is “my friend” going to tell my secret? Will they find out I told? It is often inevitable that “what is done in the dark comes to the light” Mat 10:26-27. You can be assured a secret, gossip, or a lie will inevitably come to the knowledge of everyone you don’t want to know. The most positive way of not promoting this drama is keeping your life private with self-respect and not listening to everyone else’s trifling personal reports. A polite statement for keeping your own information private: “I am so conflicted and unsure about what has happened that until I know more or understand it better I do not feel comfortable talking about the issue.” If one continues the past statement can be followed by a polite: “Please have some respect for my decision.” If someone continues where they should not, you have the right to walk away if the individual is face-to-face. Changing the subject can be helpful. Hang up the phone or do not answer it to begin with if YOU know it is drama and you may be tempted. (The same goes for the door.) There is No Shame in Keeping the Drama Tame! These are instigators for worry and a peace thief that is in your control. 2. Stealing, Cheating, Hating, and Causing Harm: Plotting harm – This should be self-explanatory. No matter how much you may want to get even – It is never worth it. The continuous ramifications will wear you down with worry and guilt. 3. Bills and Daily Needs: It is easy to live beyond our means. Keeping life simple and getting back to basics can often take time, but it can give one a new outlook as well as reality. (I have student loan debt of about 58,000. I pay for most everything with cash. I put off buying items until I can pay cash or layaway them until paid for. I sometimes worry about getting back to college to finish my last 6 to 8 classes, but I know in due time it will come, thus I dismiss the worry and pray for a better frame of mind.) There are many ways to work thru the worry over daily needs and bills. I often continue my education with free courses from HP, or other places online that have no credit general knowledge “certificate” courses. Keeping the mind busy helps. I mentioned prayer, but one should be proactive too. Find a part time job, pick up cans and bottles, sew or crochet, find a way to cater to others specific needs – cleaning for example. Boats, cars/trucks, homes, offices, windows, siding on homes, and the list of custom cleaning jobs are long and very lucrative for the hard working individual. Find something you do well and work towards your prayers. (Seek and you shall find!) 4. Be content within. I think this is the hardest for so many. We want this, that and the other thing. We measure our value by the possessions we have or acquisitions of our hand. We define our capability or self-worth by our ability to be competitive with the neighbors, coworkers, or other family members. Do we lead or barely follow? Being content is not a positive concept in today’s society. It is though a productive ability – the less you struggle with the negative emotions the more strength, mental space, and capacity you have to succeed. It is my hope this provokes thought, effects change, and aids in comforting my reader. I like to keep the information short and pointed, but there is an article or three below from noted authors to finish out the theme of this article and lend brevity to the my article if you would like to enjoy them. MJM References: 1. Conquering Anxiety and Worry, by Dorothy McCoy; http://www.healingwell.com/library/anxiety/article.asp?author=mccoy&id=1 2. 8 Steps to Conquering Worry: By Reader s Digest Magazine | Healthy Living – http://shine.yahoo.com/healthy-living/8-steps-to-conquering-worry-2582492.html 3. How to Conquer Worry, by Dale Carnegie 1948 http://www.westegg.com/unmaintained/carnegie/stop-worry.html 4. http://freedomfromfear.org
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