by Emilii Wilk
Here's something I do, and I suspect many people do...
worry about things so much that I concoct a whole story in my mind and make myself sick thinking it's already happened.
Laura Toller Gardner wrote a blog post about this, aptly called, Vivid Feeling. This kind of feeling can create good as well as evil. Such is the case of worrying and creating disastrous stories in my mind. Then I get all emotional and cry and cry and cry because my world is crumbling and I'm going down with it...or whatever the horror story happens to be.
Julia Cameron mentions this kind of worry in her book the Prosperous Heart. She recounts a conversation she had with her minister who told this story:
"It's amazing to me how our expectations can change how we feel. Yesterday, I lost Snickers in the field behind the church for an hour. I thought I would die of fear. I was designing the 'lost dog' sign, trying to figure out how much I could afford as the reward, imagining crying myself to sleep - and then I thought, 'What am I doing?' I teach this stuff! I tried to imagine how happy I would be when Snickers was back in my arms. Five minutes later, he was."
How many times have you done this? Imagined all the bad stuff that would happen until it made you sick? This week has been full of it for me - partly because of hormones and partly because some old ghosts (that apparently I have not gotten rid of) have come back to spook me. But today I had that "What am I doing?" moment.
When the mind starts whirling and your thoughts get twisted, here are some things to remember:
I'm practicing...no...living these things today by releasing the past and the people/situations that hurt me, by putting my energy into imagining the best, most joyful story, and by focusing on today, which is all I really have.
How do you banish your mind monsters?
worry about things so much that I concoct a whole story in my mind and make myself sick thinking it's already happened.
Laura Toller Gardner wrote a blog post about this, aptly called, Vivid Feeling. This kind of feeling can create good as well as evil. Such is the case of worrying and creating disastrous stories in my mind. Then I get all emotional and cry and cry and cry because my world is crumbling and I'm going down with it...or whatever the horror story happens to be.
Julia Cameron mentions this kind of worry in her book the Prosperous Heart. She recounts a conversation she had with her minister who told this story:
"It's amazing to me how our expectations can change how we feel. Yesterday, I lost Snickers in the field behind the church for an hour. I thought I would die of fear. I was designing the 'lost dog' sign, trying to figure out how much I could afford as the reward, imagining crying myself to sleep - and then I thought, 'What am I doing?' I teach this stuff! I tried to imagine how happy I would be when Snickers was back in my arms. Five minutes later, he was."
How many times have you done this? Imagined all the bad stuff that would happen until it made you sick? This week has been full of it for me - partly because of hormones and partly because some old ghosts (that apparently I have not gotten rid of) have come back to spook me. But today I had that "What am I doing?" moment.
When the mind starts whirling and your thoughts get twisted, here are some things to remember:
- The past doesn't predict the future.
- There's no use in worrying about what you can't control.
- Expect miracles.
- Imagining the good is just as easy as imagining the bad and it doesn't give you that ick feeling.
I'm practicing...no...living these things today by releasing the past and the people/situations that hurt me, by putting my energy into imagining the best, most joyful story, and by focusing on today, which is all I really have.
How do you banish your mind monsters?
