***Stop Stressing And Start Living!

Does your worry generate terrible stress? Do you worry so much that you can't get to sleep? Does the anxiety generated from your stress cause you to engage in emotional or stress eating, or another type of addictive behavior? If so, you're not alone.

Worry is a "worst case fantasy" picturing the worst that might happen. As you imagine these negative situations, you begin to experience how those undesirable realities would feel in your body. However, your ability to worry and identify potential negative outcomes has great strength. By picturing the worst case scenario, you immediately grasp what you do not want to feel or to experience - before it ever happens! You allow yourself to see a possible future and the resulting outcome of certain ways of thinking and acting.

While worrying is a great way to identify problems, is totally useless as a way to solve whatever the problem is. If you constantly remain in the realm of worry, you will begin to feel overwhelmed, tired, stressed, and even depressed. Worry can only see the problem from down in the trenches. It has no larger perspective, no vision, and no spirit. Worry is unable to generate a creative, more desirable outcome.

However, there is a bright side! You can realize that you have shown yourself a possible outcome that you do not want to experience. Now, you can take responsibility for your life by accepting the wisdom offered by your worry, and moving into the larger perspectives of your creative mind. Below are the necessary steps you can take to acknowledge your worry, to see the benefits of knowing the worst-case scenario, and then create a happier, more empowered life:

1. Do Not Try to Stop Worrying
Trying to suppress your worrying thoughts only aggravates the situation. In fact, if you try to suppress the thought hard enough, the thought can become an obsession. You do not have to figure out any detailed process of how to stop yourself from worrying. You do not need to override worry thoughts with mind control actions or positive affirmations. Worrying is perhaps the first important self-loving step to designing a new life potential!

2. Describe Exactly What You Are Worried About
The first step in moving beyond worry is to make sure you have a clear picture of the problem. Just letting those worries run around your mind is not enough. Instead, speak your worries aloud or make a list of all the things you are worrying over. Your worry is an excellent problem identifier. Meaning it can point out potential challenges and obstacles. However, your worry, despite its persistent efforts, is incapable of developing creative solutions to your problems. Allow your worry to do what it does best, which is of course, to identify problems.

3. You Are Not Helpless
Worrying about what might or might not happen in the future is a habit. In addition, just worrying and not taking any action to change your potential outcomes is a form of self-sabotage. Instead of feeling a lack of control, begin noticing your internal conversations. Notice if you believe the worst will always happen to you. Notice the direction your worry takes you in. Now find your heart and tell yourself that you are safe and supported in your life and that the worst case does not always happen. You can teach yourself to look for evidence that good things also happen in your life.

4. Breathe
One way to alleviate excessive worrying is to learn how to breathe deeply and slowly - the opposite of how we breathe when we worry and stress. Deep breathing is one of the simplest yet most effective stress management techniques. It can calm your nerves, relieve tension, and restore your inner balance. Deep breathing allows you to clear your head and create a calm, relaxed state. You are now more able to access your inner wisdom and focus on solutions and positive actions.

5. Activate Your Right-Brain Creative Genius
Why should your worry take the entire spotlight? Allow equal opportunity for your creative imagination. Worry is a beginning, not an end-point. Think of worry as an opportunity to empower yourself by imagining a better future and new possibilities. Ask your creative self to envision a more desirable outcome. Focus on what matters most.

6. Take Action
Once you have imagined a more desirable outcome, notice what action step you could take that would bring you back into a place of feeling hopeful and capable. Taking action shifts your focus away from feeling helpless and overwhelmed, and toward feeling empowered and in control of your life. In addition, taking inspired action reminds you that you are capable of handling life and the problems that arise. You can develop a sense of trust in yourself to envision a desirable future and then take action to make your success happen.

Worry can serve an important function in your life, once you know how to work with it. When worry shows itself and its dark fantasies, follow the steps above and access your creative imagination. Use those stressful thoughts and ask your creative self, what do I want and how can I make this happen?