A worry is a concern, one that often niggles away – as it burrows deeper like the worm that it is, it has the potential to become a full-blown fear. And that’s only one worm, today we have countless worm-worries burrowing holes in our psyche, if we don’t consciously pay attention to them.
At the point of acknowledging there is a worry, comes a choice. Distract and numb oneself into oblivion using some method or other (there are plenty of socially acceptable ones in our culture, alcohol being a very popular one) or stand naked as such, facing your fears and dig deep into the well of your own psyche for solutions.
Worrying is a mental behaviour that is practiced and because we don’t intervene with the thought processes before they take a deep hold, we end up believing there's something 'wrong' with us and that the worry needs to be drugged into submission to be managed and pushed further into the shadows. We hide our worries beneath a veil of shame, sleepless nights and pretense.
Maybe we can help one another find a better way to deal with this commonly shared behaviour? My imagination has come up with this perspective, maybe it’s helpful, or maybe your own imagination can find a unique way to turn this shared problem on its head?
A “worrier” has a highly alert and sensitive nervous system scanning for potential threats, so that an alarm can be raised if necessary to protect and warn the local community so that preparations can be made. A worrier has just found themselves in a time and place that has forgotten and mislabelled these traits which were designed to be the foundation for a guard-on-duty type of warrior training.
Worriers have been misunderstood by the present day culture and therefore lack the appropriate training to make best use of this innate skillbase. Apparently, the female brain is more highly attuned to scan for danger as an extra layer of protection to ensure survival of our young.
We are invited to transform ourselves from a worrier to a warrior. Nobody else will do it for us. We’ve got to put ourselves through our own bootcamp. First acknowledge this trait as a capability rather than a drawback. Next, find a focus for that powerfully protective energy system and find a way to direct it into something useful for today’s world. Take action of some kind, to get out of the paralysis-by-analysis that too much mind energy can generate.
The untrained part of the mind that is responsible for this “worrying behaviour” is actually the imagination. If you’re a good worrier, then you can become a great imaginer, once you learn to take the reins of your imagination and guide it with purpose.
Now what difference can we make in the world with that infinite capacity to imagine, when its not going round and round in circles with worries and concerns of an unknowable future? Instead take up the reins of your own mind once more and guide it where you want it to go.
Let’s give that powerful, beautiful mind of ours, something new and challenging to focus on and become warriors for a new way of living, one that nourishes heart and soul, body and mind!
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