Worry. We all know how useless it is, and yet we all do it anyway. Why is that, I wonder? It’s not like worrying ever fixed any real problem or made anything better in any way. And all our fussing and fretting over the future isn’t going to do anything to improve that future; all it does is make us miserable in the present and attract more stuff for us to worry about.
It’s just so easy sometimes to get sucked into negativity spirals where the big things in our lives are concerned. The more importance we attach to something, the more we seem to worry about it, and the bigger those worries seem to get… until we’ve got ourselves in full-fledged panic mode, imagining all the worse possible outcomes to the situation and freaking ourselves out over how we will ever possibly be able to deal with it.
But the thing is, most of those fears that we’ve dredged up out of the darkest little corners of our minds will never, ever come to pass. They are doomsday scenarios that really aren’t, and never were, in the realm of possibility. We get ourselves stressed out and panicked for no good reason whatsoever. All because of our irrational habit of obsessing over what the worst possible thing that could happen might be.
But what if we turned all of that on its head? What if, instead of imagining the worst possible outcome to a situation, we let ourselves imagine the best thing that could happen? Think of the vibrational shift that would bring. Think of the sense of relief, the stress reduction that would happen if we focused on the potential for positive outcomes instead of the negatives.
Think of what you could build with the energy and excitement of those kinds of thoughts. What could you do if you were focused on all the things that could go right with respect to your big dream, for instance? What great things could you create if you were concentrating the best thing that could happen if you went for it, rather than fearing the worst that could happen?
Permission to be happy
So pick one thing that has you really worried today. And I want you to take the next five minutes and give yourself permission to imagine everything turning out in the perfect way. Go full-out, pie-in-the-sky, rose-coloured-glasses, Pollyanna’s-got-nothing-on-me perfection; for the next five minutes, imagine every single detail working out in the best, most advantageous, happiest way possible.
It’s only for five minutes, so why are you hesitating?
Is it because you really don’t think it’s possible for things to turn out that way? Is it because you don’t want to be disappointed? Is it because you think someone else would think you’re an idiot for being so blindly optimistic? Is it because, deep down, you don’t really believe you deserve to have things turn out that well?
These feelings are telling you something about your internal, subconscious beliefs. They’re telling you what you really expect from life. And if the thought of being sublimely happy and positive for as short a period as five minutes is making you uncomfortable… then maybe it’s time to start thinking about what you believe life is really all about.
In the meantime, I’d really like you to try the above exercise again. Really try it. Get a kitchen timer and set it for five minutes (and if you really can’t handle that much awesome all at once, then start with two minutes) and let yourself imagine your life the way you really want it to be. You are hereby given permission to be happy for five minutes. You can go back to worrying after the timer goes off, if you really feel the need to. But for this time, let all of the worry and the stress go and just imagine.
Remember that it is the energy, the feelings and the expectations that we have about our circumstances that create our experiences. When you start to shift those expectations, you start to shift your reality. And things are going to start to start changing.
If you can dream and believe it, you can always achieve it.
So what’s the best thing that could happen?
photo credit: pixabay.com cc
So, the best thing to do is to actually focus on what we want and not pretend we want something else because what we want is too hard or whatnot. With this work, I am really understanding that now. It took a detour off the path to my dream to get me here and back on the path, so it is looking good already. The universe takes care of the rest and we just have to trust it, not the peanut gallery which leads us astray. But even if they do, the universe still has its ways of getting us back on track. It never forgets our dreams, even if they seem like a blur to us or we are told it is impossible by the peanut gallery. You know who they are.
Yes, focus on what it is that you are trying to create. Why pretend to want something you don’t really want? It’s a waste of time and energy and just messes up your vibe — you’re putting mixed signals out there when you do that. And the only reason we ever pretend to want we don’t want is because we think we “should” want it… that nasty should again. It’s trouble wherever you find it. 😉
The peanut gallery is always going to tell you it’s impossible. For many reasons, not the least of which is they all had dreams of their own that they gave up on. They’ll bash your dreams for that reason alone… until it starts to happen for you. And then they’ll stop bashing it and start wondering how you did it. And then maybe they’ll start revisiting their own and trying to figure out how to make those dreams happen. And then they’ll all be happier people for it.
Nelson Mandela said that things always seem impossible until they are done. Words to live by.