Worrying may be natural but it aint helpful...

How are we treating our planet? Not very good it seems because the News are constantly informing us of the "bad" stuff. How are we treating each other? Not very good it seems because the News are constantly informing us of all the things "bad" people do.

No wonder so many of us are worried; there's a lot of "bad" stuff happening all the time, all over the world and in our neighbourhoods.

Statistics supports this, but for some of us, it can become overwhelming and like a thick mist it may infiltrate and engulf our beings even unto the core of us.

"Worry not about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself; each day has enough trouble on its own".

Easier said than done. There was a time in my life when I used have great troubles in falling asleep. I would toss and turn for hours, eventually my partner got sick of it and said: "What time is it? Three am. Okay, what can you do about whatever you are worrying about right now, this minute?"

"Nothing", I answered. "Okay then, when can you do something about it?" my partner asked.

"Tomorrow", I said. "Right, then what is the point in worrying about it now when nothing can be done? Knowing that right now, you can do nothing, but tomorrow you can, .....let it go", and strangely enough those words spoken by my partner stopped my tossing and turning dead in the tracks and it has helped me immensely ever since.

Some of us are better at switching off troubling thoughts than others, of compartmentalising what we can do something about and what we can't. There is a saying: "God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference." Perhaps it can be rephrased: Endeavour to accept the things you can't change, seek the courage to change the things you can, and learn to understand; gain wisdom; so as to know the difference.

Some of us worry about the melting ice caps, pollution, food shortages, climate change, wars and famines, the economy, and the list goes on and on. Worrying about something at times may feel like we are actually doing something, in essence however, we are not. If on the other hand when we are worried we compartmentalise what we are worried about into what we can do something about and what we can't, then we can perhaps let go of some of the things we worry about.

An example: Every year newborn turtles begin their long walk towards the ocean but many are killed on their way to the water by predators. A man watches a woman as she picks up one little turtle at the time and brings it to the water. "What does it matter, most of them are going to die anyway", he says to the woman. "Well, it matters to this one", she answers. We deal with things that concerns us in many different ways. Some of us get actively involved with the issues most important to us, some of us donate money to organisations, some of us volunteer to assist, some of us educate ourselves on topics that are close to our hearts, some of us use art to communicate our emotions on different events/issues, some of us help when we can and where we can.

Perhaps some of us are focused primarily on our own lives, our day to day goings-on and leave the worrying to others, other of us perhaps seek solace and peace from the world in closed environments, we are all different.

Right now a lab somewhere is developing algae and bacteria that will consume greenhouse gases and metabolize the oil that dirties the surface of every ocean. Someone else is working around the clock to develop alternatives to fossil fuels. Others have taken on the role of job creators, micro financiers in the developing world, and green activists.

Read more: http://www.beliefnet.com/columnists/intentchopra/2010/06/how-to-stop-worrying-and-love.html#ixzz2ygG0CqG5

Read more at http://www.beliefnet.com/columnists/intentchopra/2010/06/how-to-stop-worrying-and-love.html#SZUP06zG1o7MhUcb.99

If you are finding that the news are getting you down, perhaps you can turn them off now and then?

"Societies become modern when news replaces religion as our central source of guidance and our touchstone of authority", so wrote the philosopher Hegel. One may ponder whether perhaps the news now occupies a position of power almost equal to the position that "faiths" used to have?

Since the news often tend to be of the dramatic and of the "bad" variety one may wonder if anything good happens. Let me offer some: Right now there is a lab that is developing algae and bacteria that will consume greenhouse gases and metabolise oil that dirties every surface of every ocean, there are people working non-stop to develop an alternative to fossil fuel, there are people working on cures for many diseases, there are people working on software for people with no motor function to be able to use their brain to be able to move with the help of robotics, there are new discoveries in medicine made everywhere everyday,........

Perhaps it may be helpful to limit the amount of news one watches and balance it with going on line and finding some good news? Not to mention all the beauty and wonder that greets us every morning when the sun comes up and in the evening, when it goes down. Instead of watching the news sometimes perhaps instead watch one of Attenborough's many amazing documentaries?
It can be hard to be positive in a world with news that spews out one disaster after the other but

ignores the amazing, the beautiful, the miraculous, the wondrous, the breathtaking.

At the bottom of worry lies fear, and fear offers no comfort only more fear, instead of worrying perhaps remember this:  Endeavour to accept the things you can't change, seek the courage to change the things you can, and learn to understand; gain wisdom; so as to know the difference.

 

“Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow, it empties today of its strength.”  (Corrie ten Boom)