be a Warrior (not a worrier)

Worry can be a real downer. It pulls you out of the present moment (and away from joy and peace). Convinces you it’s necessary and productive so that you can “plan/prepare for the worst” (does this ever actually work?). Makes you feel sick to your stomach (messing with your appetite and digestion). Disrupts your sleep and ability to rest and restore. 

Why do we worry? 

Worry has a message for you. It’s there to protect you from fear. But, it often has the unintended result of amplifying the fear by tapping into your imagination bringing up all of the possible scenarios that could happen, and probably won’t. 

Does any of this sound familiar…

You’ve been going to the gym regularly with a friend, but their schedule changed and you’re no longer able to go together. Working out is important to you, but when you consider going by yourself your stomach starts doing flip flops. 

You’re worried you… won’t find parking… that the equipment you want to use won’t be available… you won’t have a spotter… what if you don’t know how to use something?... you’ll feel like an idiot if you ask for help… you could get in someone’s way… (this is just the beginning of a possible list of scenarios you can come up with). 

As a result, you avoid going, but that doesn’t feel good either. You know you’re avoiding it, but the thought of feeling the discomfort is also hard to deal with. You decide you don’t want fear of discomfort to hold you back so you make a plan to go to the gym for 15 minutes, and you'll assess how you feel from there.  

While at the gym, you notice you’re uncomfortable, but none of the things you worried about are happening, so you stay and do your full workout. Yea!! 

With this success under your belt, you schedule yourself to go back again in two days. Soon, you realize that after just 3 or 4 visits, you’re feeling more comfortable and at ease (it often takes only a few times to move through, or tolerate, the discomfort) and you fall back into the routine you had when you and your friend went together. 

With these successes under your belt, you have renewed confidence to look at other worrisome situations and consider which to approach next, with this knowledge:  

1. Acknowledging your worry allows you to hear its message. What fear is it trying to protect you from?
2. Just because you're worried about feeling uncomfortable or that something "bad" will happen, doesn't make it so.
3. Start small and plan your exit. It's possible that it won't be as uncomfortable as you feared.
4. With practice, you'll feel increasingly more comfortable. It could happen in just a few times.
5. Besides… What if it all works out? This is a real possibility!
6. Finally, meditation is an antidote to worry.

If you’re a worrier, you can transform yourself into a warrior through meditation. This month we’re working with two meditations that calm your nervous system, deepen your breath, move your body, exercise your voice - so you can express with greater ease, and use mantra to lift you from the limiting thoughts of worry into the expansiveness of what’s possible. 

Click here to access the tutorial and practice videos. 

In a short time, you may even find yourself chanting the mantra, instead of worrying 😇.

With love, 

Jodh (which means Warrior)