Friday, March 20, 2009

. . . scheduled worry time




Some time ago, I signed up for The Daily Ohm. Maybe some of you get these free messages, too. Sometimes I even read them. Mostly I skip over them. But yesterday I read one. It was about giving yourself the opportunity to experience your natural emotions, mostly the bad ones, instead of suppressing them deep inside yourself so they will fester and interfere with your mental and physical health and well-being. It was recommended that you schedule a time to experience these emotions, when you will be alone and feel safe. Then just let yourself go. And supposedly when you're done, everything is better.


I don't know. . . is worry an emotion? Or is it an activity? I am a worrier by nature, and I'm good at it. For the past few years, I had less to worry about, so maybe I was out of practice. But all of a sudden. . .at least it seems like all of a sudden. . .oh, my, there is so much to worry about. I tried ignoring everything that was worrisome, only delaying the inevitable. I tried to take action on those things that were problems, with some success, but sometimes creating more cause for worry. So now I'm going to schedule worry time. I'm not going to do it all day, every day. I resolve to worry for about 15 minutes every day. During that time, I will absolutely wallow in worry. Then I will move on to other things. Hopefully I will worry constructively: I will come up with a plan, a solution, a way out, an escape from a trap, a path out of the maze. I figure I can handle anything if I have a plan; it's when your back is up against the wall and there's no way out that things fall apart. Maybe I'll limit myself to one topic per day, whichever worry is greatest at the time. That's it. It's a plan. This afternoon I will worry. We should start a worry blog. Post your own worry for the day. Get it out there. The blog world is teeming with problem solvers. We should plug into that expertise.


Above is another accidental painting. Right now it reminds me of caramel and chocolate and nougat and nuts, which is making me want a candy bar. This one will undergo several more transformations before it's done, probably. Depends a lot on what I paint in the next few days. Something to worry about later.

6 comments:

Catherine said...

a *worry blog*...sign me up...
I may tray your *scheduled worry* idea Mary...could work...

M said...

Oh, my Mary! I can beat anyone in the worry department. I do try to contain it by having spells of worry and then moving on physically to something that will get my mind off it. I do need that physical re-adjustment to stop my train of thought.

A worry blog.. Interesting. It would get lots of posts for sure. I think it would need to be a closed blog to work.Worry is often about very private things. My friend writes her worry down and then turns the page in her notebook and uses a paper clip to hold the page down. I love that idea.

ps pirro said...

Mary, I used to get the Daily Om and it's lovely and gentle and all that, but I've come to prefer my Notes from the Universe, which are every bit as enlightening and much more fun. I highly recommend them. You can sign up at http://www.tut.com/

Mary Buek said...

Catherine: Yeah, but like Margaret suggests, it might have to be anonymous. That's okay with me. The scheduled worry time didn't even last 15 minutes yesterday. I fell asleep. Oh, well, that's okay, too.

Margaret: You are right, most worries are very private. To the point that sometimes I feel like I'm the only one in the world with that particular worry. But I have discovered that I am not unique; that there is always someone out there who has been through what you are worrying about; or who has something even worse to worry about. It's all about perspective, I guess. And worrying interferes with perspective, don't you think?

Cindy said...

I love the collage- it does look yummy enough to eat. And worry is attached to an emotion- fear. I think I worry a lot, too. I love the idea of a worry blog. I have tried all the things you said, like taking action, having a plan, etc. But the one thing I do when I can't think of an action or a plan is try to let it go and let "the universe" take care of it. That would work well into the end of a daily worry session.

Carmen said...

This piece is gorgeous.