Addressing "It"

Worry and anxiety are voracious energy consumers. They live in the thoughts that wake us up at 2am in the darkness, gnaw at us through the day, and like the news feed at the bottom of a TV screen, relentlessly assault our attempts to stay grounded and focused. If we can isolate those sources of worry and anxiety, clearly identify them, and begin to address them one by one...just imagine the mental, emotional, and creative bandwidth that would be available to us.

What are your current sources of worry and anxiety?

Choose just one.

Perhaps that one that if you could take care of whatever it is, or at least get it to a place that it no longer consumes your thoughts and fuels your fears, you would have more room to breathe. Be able to think more clearly and creatively.

Break it down.

Attack it piece by piece.

You may not be able to totally resolve the issue or complete the task, but making headway in the right direction gets you one step closer.

And just imagine the mental, emotional, and creative bandwidth that will be available to you.

Photo by Ylanite Koppens from Pexels

Surf’s Up

 “The water’s waves are churned up by the winds, which come and go and vary in direction and intensity, just as do the winds of stress and change in our lives, which stir up the waves in our minds.” ~ Jon Kabbat-Zinn Wherever You Go, There You Are: Mindfulness Meditation in Everyday Life

It is easy for me to take my emotions too seriously. Some more than others. You  might know the ones I mean. Anger. Fear. Guilt. Resentment. Grief. Regret. Anxiety. Boredom. Hit with one of those, and I am on board and riding that wave like a professional surfer. Whether it’s the curt email, a comment that hits me the wrong way, an inaccurate assumption, a missed expectation, the arrival of bad news, lack of sleep, lack of exercise, lack of food, lack of communication, or a lack of whatever I think shouldn’t be lacking, if not careful, I’m up on my emotional surfboard catching wave after wave. Unfortunatly, others can get dragged along in my wake.

Someone once told me that an emotion only lasts for 90 seconds, and that it is our stories and inner dialogue that keep it going. I haven’t tried to verify that assertion, so for now, let’s just take it as true, because on some level it strikes me that it is. Caught on a wave of emotion I can become my own artificial wave machine, generating waves like at those inland water parks for landlocked surfers.

I am learning that when another one hits, if I can score even 90 seconds, I can let that wave pass.

Not ignore the wave. 

Not fight the wave.

Not turn my back on the wave.

Just let wash up onto the beach, and then head back out to sea.