After listening to some Abe videos on the subject of worry, here are some notes summarizing their message as I understood it:
What is worry according to Abraham Hicks?
- Worry is when you want something – but are thinking about possibilities that are in opposition of it.
(eg you want to be safe, you want to succeed, you want to make sure you get that thing you want, you want to be liked… but are thinking something in opposition of those) - Worry is: “I want this but… I want this but…”
- Worry is an indicator of where you are on the emotional guidance scale.
- Worry is an emotional indicator that you’re focused on thoughts that don’t feel good. Your worry leads to an emotion that’s saying “This thought isn’t helping”.
- So, if worry tells you that your thought isn’t serving you, worry can be seen as an emotional indicator to ease up and soothe yourself
- Worry is an emotional indicator that you may be slowing down the momentum on what you *do* want.
- Worry is an indicator that on this particular subject, you have some beliefs that you need to soothe and do some work on.
Worry may be the tip of the iceberg, and underneath it are other breliefs that need work. For example, behind a worry about public speaking there may be a fear of failure; or behind a worry about being late for something may be a fear of upsetting or displeasing others; so every layer of the onion would benefit from being soothed to make them “less of a big deal” and to make the whole situation easier on you.
How to deal with worry & how to overcome it:
- Soothe the worries:
It can be helpful to reach for soothing words that talk yourself down from the worry. You know you’re doing it right when your soothing thoughts lead to feelings of relief.
Examples soothing phrases:
- maybe the worst won’t happen
- even if this goes wrong, it’s not *that* important – I’ll still survive
- maybe it’ll turn out ok
- maybe I’ll do well in this
- people have done this before and have been ok, so I could too. - Shift your focus to better-feeling thoughts:
Focus less specifically on that worry of what could go wrong. Instead, shift your focus in a better feeling direction. Try to focus on:
- what is working,
- what can work
- what the best case situation can be - Recall positive memories:
Recall times well things go well (for you or for others). Recall times when everything usually works out just fine. It is rare that something goes wrong. - Positive affirmations:
Sometimes these can work, for example:
- No matter what, I will work it out. - Practice:
Practice self-soothing, positive focus and the above techniques more and more over time.
The first time you do it, it may be tricky to come up with the words but the more you do it the better you get at it.
The more you do it the better you get at reducing worry over time. - Shift your focus to something else entirely:
If thoughts on the subject are too charged and there’s too much momentum going about them so that every time you try to think of the positive end of the stick you still feel some discomfort because it’s still activating the “unwanted” end of the stick, then either shift your focus onto something else entirely or take drastic action like:
- Take a nap
- Go to sleep for the day
- Go meditate
The result of taking these steps to overcome worry is that you:
- Train your Faith that everything is working out for you (even before you see evidence of this).
- Train your optimism. Your Source knows that what you want is “there” if you just line up with the wanted end of the stick rather than with the unwanted. The vibration of the positive end of the stick is there – you just have to train yourself to hear it more often. This takes desire and a willingness to try.
- Train your vibration consistently to vibrate at a better-feeling place. The happier you are more consistently, the less you worry.