“ Worry is like a rocking chair. It gives you something to do, but it gets you nowhere.” Glenn Turner

“ I know worrying works, because none of the stuff I worried about ever happened.”  Will Rogers

“All things work together for good…” Romans 6:8

 

Worrying is fascinating.  If you examine worry at all, one can easily see it accomplishes absolutely nothing. And we know it! At least nothing positive.

It only “accomplishes” harm to the mind and body. None of us wants to do it. Yet we all do it. We are fascinating creatures when we’re human, aren’t we?

Ever observe what’s going on in your mind and body when we’re worrying? All we’re doing is sitting in our mental rocking chair, frantically rocking back and forth, going nowhere, and spinning!

We’re spinning worst case scenarios. We’re not even entertaining solutions or positive things we could do. We’re just listening to stories over and over again. Stories the ego is making up about the worst thing that could happen. We’re rocking away imagining them happening, and just watching the drama happen. We keep buying tickets for the same movie. Feeling the emotions our stories generate, and freaking out.

What’s the source of all this? Ah yes. Our old roommate, our ego! The ego loves the drama! It gives it something to do.

And we’re living hostage to something that’s not even real. The ego is merely this false sense of being separate from God, everyone, and everything. This false sense that we’re on our own in this dangerous world that is against us. And so it lives from this energy of fear. A constant feeling of being threatened. Horrible things could happen at any moment! Oh my!

The ego loves the spinning. It uses it to justify it’s seeming existence.  As I feel my ego, I notice it is full of a knowing that it’s not a real entity, and it has no real solutions. The ego uses the spinning of worst case scenarios to justify all it’s fears and to stoke the fires of worry. “See!” it will say to us. “This, and this, and this could happen. And if it did, life would be unbearable, overwhelming, and too much to deal with!”

I really believe that we even use worry to justify ourselves. By that I mean we can easily be telling ourselves,  “I’m a caring person because I worry about ____ . We think we are loving someone when we worry about them.  “I love Janice. So I worry about her.”

But is worrying about someone really loving them? I think not!

1. Worrying takes us out of the present moment, which is the only space we can actually do something to help (if there is indeed something we could do.) We’re not present when we worry, but off in some made up future event that isn’t real because it hasn’t happened!

Worrying reduces our ability to be of help. It consumes and weakens our energy. We cannot think or see clearly, and thus we cannot recognize possibilities available to us to actually help.

2. We are made to be conduits of the Flow (God.)  The Flow is already within us, and also constantly wants to come to us, flow through us out into the world. Because the Flow is spiritual energy, it wants to flow. To keep moving through us and out of us.

But what does worry actually do? The energy of worry and spinning stories creates, you guessed it, spinning energy! Imagine spinning wheels of energy within you doing nothing but blocking the Flow from within you out into the world. These spinning wheels of energy are like blockages in an artery or vein in our body. Preventing the flow of blood, and causing dis ease within.

This spinning energy of worry actually makes it much harder for us to be a conduit of the Great Love, and for the person (we think we’re loving by worrying about them), to receive all the GOoDness wanting to flow to them.

We’re so busy spinning, being turned inward and blocked, that the Other Side (our guides, etc.) has a difficult time getting through to us with the help they could offer us. We cannot receive or be aware of those subtle thoughts, suggestions, and wisdom they’re trying to give us about what we could be and do to actually help.

An open conduit is still. Still to hear the still voice of wisdom within. Still to feel the subtle nudges of our intuition and inner knowing. “Be still and know that I am God” as Psalm 46:10 puts it.

“Sounds great! I would love to not worry so much, or be still. But how? Do you know what it’s like living in this s#*t show in here? (as we point to our heads.)

If we are to ever be free from worry (or at least freer), we cannot believe the voice in our head that tells us:

1. I’m a worrier.

2. I can’t help it.

Both of those statement are major lies with devastating consequences. You are NOT a worrier, and you CAN help it!

You are not a worrier:

The reason we see ourselves as worriers, and that we think we can’t help it, is because we believe the voice in our head that is telling us these two lies. They’re just stories we’ve been conditioned to believe.

When these two voices speak to us, simply tell them, “No! I’m not buying that anymore!” 

The Truth we do need to reprogram ourselves with is this: I am not a worrier. That worrier is not the real me. The REAL me, my True Self which is divinely rooted is calm, trusting, strong, patient, and confident in the GOoDness that wants to come my way. 

The one doing the worrying is not the real you. The real you (the essence of your soul) is calm, trusting, strong, patient and rests in GOoDness. It is not diminished by anything you or the one you care about is experiencing.

The essence of our soul, the real us cannot be threatened by the insecurities found in the illusions and lies of our egos.

We CAN not worry! How?

While the path to get there is unique to each of us, it begins in the same place. The place Jesus so often speaks of in the Gina Lake channeling books. It begins by saying “No! I’m not believing you anymore,” and questioning those lies and stories we’ve taken seriously for too long. Very little of what the voice in our head tells us is even remotely true! It’s neurotic, dillusional, and paranoid!

The questioning looks like this:

Has what I am worrying about happened? No. Therefore it’s not real.

Could it happen? Sure. If it did happen, would it be difficult?  Probably, but would it be as bad and exactly as I imagine it to be? Probably not.

Would I (or the one I’m worrying about) really be left totally incapable of dealing with it? Could they find strength and wisdom they’re not even aware they have at this point in time? Could they not be surprised by how capable they are of responding to the new reality?

Could answers later reveal themselves that I never imagined as I rocked on my worry chair? Going nowhere. That worst case scenario I worry about? Could it not lead to new possibilities, growth, and a whole new life I cannot imagine now?

As for that worst case scenarios. Keep in mind that there is a high likelihood that it is the very kind of thing the soul came here to experience, and holds the greatest potential for growth uniquely appropriate to you.

When I look back on all the difficult situations I was in with people as their pastor, I am amazed. I sat in their darkness, as they spun the worst possible outcomes. Even if it happened, it was rarely as bad as they imagined. And I was often amazed at the strength, wisdom, and adaptability of people. Over and over again.

Besides, Will Rogers is right! When I look back on things I’ve worried about, precious few actually  happened. How about you?

We could instead redirect our energy toward that person we’re worried about. We could stop the blockage by focusing on what we could possibly do to be a positive force at this time in their life.

There IS something we can always do when there’s ‘nothing we can do.’ We can always send them the most powerful energy in the world. The energy of love! What do they need more than that? What do WE need to do more than that?

What does not worrying look like? It looks like that.

It also looks like this for ourselves. Thinking about that worst case scenario that could happen, and saying, “You know. IF that happens, I’ll deal with it then. And it will almost certainly be much different than I am imagining it to be right now. In the meantime, I’m focusing all my energy and resources on the present.”

Remember the teaching of Jesus. “So do not worry about tomorrow…today’s trouble is enough for today.” Matthew 6:34

One more thing. If you’re still hell bent on seeing yourself carrying on as a worrier and thinking you can’t help it, I wouldn’t worry about it.

You Are Love!

Pastor Tim Tengblad

timtengblad@comcast.net   I welcome your comments, questions, or stories. Don’t worry. I welcome everything!