Worry Isn’t Loving
Last week I had one of those days that we all can probably relate to. I was moving through my day and something happened to one of my adult children that put her at the forefront of my mind. I was going about my day working, but I had my daughter on my mind. As the day proceeded, the thoughts moved into a worry, a fretting that sometimes mothers can get into. The thoughts didn’t help me as the day progressed. I noted that I was scattered, unbalanced, and irritable. The worry wasn’t serving me nor was it serving my daughter. My tasks at work were not getting completed and the process of being into worry also left my loving ways out of the forefront of my interaction with others. And I wasn’t accomplishing anything for my daughter as I fell into a state of worry.
Someone close to me responded to my comment of worry by saying this, “You know that worry isn’t loving and that when you worry you don’t leave space for love.” I had to think about the comment and realized that it was so true. Worry is fear and fear is the opposite of love. Besides the obvious fact that when we worry we are thinking about things that haven’t happened and putting even more energy into a negative prediction of the future which is exactly opposite of what we are hoping for. We are putting more energy into fearful thoughts than we are loving thoughts. Worry decreases our ability to reason through the situation and come up with a good resolution.
So what’s a mother to do? Perhaps step into a memory that helps us access the other side of the coin, loving thoughts and energy. Step into the loving energy, release the person we are worrying about and send him/her loving thoughts and feelings – focus on the fact that our loved one will make his/her way through life in a good way. The loving energy we fill our hearts with and extend out to the world will give us much more to work with and will definitely have more impact on our loved one than us getting caught up in a pattern of worry. So do it now. Bring up a loving memory and take the loving energy that you feel, step into it, feel it and send it out from your heart to the heart of your loved one. This is much more efficient than getting caught up in the downward spiral of worry. Then go about your day stepping into loving thoughts and energy.
Tags: a mother's job is to step into loving thoughts, worry isn't loving
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Janie Pfeifer Watson
Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker
Licensed Independent Mental Health Practitioner- Janie Pfeifer Watson, LICSW, is the founder and director of Wholeness Healing Center, a mental health practice in Grand Island, Nebraska with remote sites in Broken Bow and Kearney. Her expertise encompasses a broad range of areas, including depression, anxiety, attachment and bonding, coaching, couples work, mindfulness, trauma, and grief. She views therapy as an opportunity to learn more about yourself as you step more into being your authentic self. From her perspective this is part of the spiritual journey; on this journey, she serves as a mirror for her clients as they get to know themselves—and, ultimately, to love themselves.
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