I Will Let Go Of Worry

The second Precept, for me, is very much a reminder to stay in the moment, in the now. When I do that I'm not fretting about what happened yesterday or what might happen tomorrow.

Without minimizing the difficulties that we all face on a day-to-day basis, when it comes right down to it, worrying does absolutely nothing to eliminate any of them, does it? It can increase our heart rate, make our head spin, keep us awake at night, make us forget to do the things we need to do, make us less effective at performing the task at hand, make us irritable -- in short, it expends a lot of valuable time and energy that might be better spent tending to each moment as it comes.

I recently heard something that really helps me with this: If there is something I can do about a situation right now, go do it. If not, then let it go. Another thing that helps me is setting aside a period of time each day, say an hour, during which to worry. If a worrisome thought pops into my head before that, I shoo it away until the designated time. Guess what? Nine times out of 10, when that hour that I've set aside arrives, I've often forgotten what it was that I was worried about or the reality hits me that I can't do anything about it - or any of the other things that were vying for my attention - at that moment and I'm able to either let it go or, if it is sort of an ongoing worry, I can make a plan to do something about it.

How about some examples...

Let's say I'm worried about a family member's health, but I'm at work and will be for the next 7 hours or so. There isn't much I can do is there? I can make a mental note to check in on them during my "worry hour" later in the day, or perhaps spend some of that hour planning for all of the what-ifs and maybe underneath those what-ifs there lies an issue that I can do something about.

Perhaps I’m tossing and turning at night because I’ve got a presentation to make. If the presentation isn’t finished, I might decide to get up and work on it for a few minutes, but if it’s ready and I’m just fretting about how it will go and whether people will like it, a better choice might be to do some deep breathing, place my Reiki hands on my solar plexus and just trust that all will go well.

Whatever the situation, those last few words make a fine mantra: “Just trust that all will go well."

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on the second Precept!

Namaste,
Janet