Hello,
I'm Janice Vogel,
Creative Human and Creative Coach,
And I will guide you today in gently releasing worry.
Find yourself in a comfortable position,
Either sitting or lying down.
Allow any tension to dissolve in your body,
And perhaps gently close your eyes.
In times of stress,
We turn to the tools that we have to cope,
To ease our discomfort,
And often it is our mind that swiftly raises its hand to fix our problems.
Our mind worries,
And strategizes,
And calculates.
Worrying is not a problem,
It is a solution.
Our coping mechanisms are not problems,
They are solutions.
Worrying is a solution to the challenge of facing uncertainty.
Our mind is a powerful tool,
It wants to protect us at all costs,
And sometimes the cost of that protection is worry,
And the cost of worry is exhaustion,
And the cost of exhaustion is disconnection from life,
Disconnection from Source,
Disconnection from ourselves.
The most primitive part of the brain,
The amygdala,
Remembers everything that has ever happened,
And with very little discretion,
Attempts to notice if anything similar will happen to you again in the future.
The mind is a powerful tool,
But it is not an accurate tool with which to predict the future.
We cannot predict what harm will come,
We cannot predict what blessings will come.
In times of stress,
When we look at the tools before us,
At times we elect our mind to protect us from any discomfort from external sources,
And if we could flick a switch and turn our minds off,
Perhaps we would.
When we wish to stop worrying,
It is not the wish to stop worrying,
But perhaps a gratitude for worrying that will ease this tendency.
You may say the following with me.
Thank you mind for trying to protect me,
But I am ready to face uncertainty with an open heart.
I am ready for my heart to raise its hand in the face of challenge.
Thank you mind for trying to keep me out of harm's way,
But I am ready now to walk into my life,
Knowing I have my back,
Knowing that whatever happens,
I will embrace myself compassionately with love.
Thank you mind for trying to bring ease more quickly into my life,
But I am ready now to sit in the discomfort of not knowing,
In the name of building a new life.
Thank you mind for trying to keep me safe,
But it is no longer your job to fix me,
Because I am already whole.
Perhaps we can give our mind a new job.
Perhaps the task it may best serve you to allow your mind to do,
Is to seek joy between sorrow and stress.
To seek spaces to release emotion.
Space to cry.
Space to scream.
Space to howl.
Space to laugh.
Andy Carpenter says,
I wish I were a river,
Because a river knows how to run.
Our life is like a river,
It knows how to run.
When we trust,
Worrying is no longer our impulse.
Our mind has permission to rest and focus on tending our riverbanks,
Tending our body,
Tending to the present moment,
And whatever memories and dreams this moment may include.
We worry,
Because we have evidence that this has worked to keep us safe in the past.
To stop worrying seems like a dare to make a mistake.
To stop strategizing seems like closing your eyes at a pivotal moment.
But the mind forgets.
The mind forgets to trust in the flow of life.
The mind forgets that there will be compassion in the face of mistakes.
The mind forgets the love we have access to always,
Even in the face of hardship.
The mind forgets.
Worrying is a forgetting of our true nature and our connection to the earth and to one another.
Worrying is a function of our sympathetic nervous system.
When a part of ourselves is stuck in worry,
Perhaps it is linked to an impulse to be ready.
Ready to fly.
Ready to fight.
Ready to freeze.
And so to rise out of that state and into the creative,
Connective state of ventral vagal,
We can discover new pathways.
Pathways of exploration,
Of delight,
Of joy.
Explore the feeling of a hand out an open car window.
Explore the smell of fresh snow on the ground.
Explore the sky for signs of birds,
Clouds,
Branches.
Our paths are meant to weave like branches,
Growing in curved jointed lines,
Out from the center,
Core,
Trunk of the tree.
All your energy into the center of yourself now.
Take a deep breath in.
Trust.
And on the exhale,
Surrender.
Trust.
Surrender.
Trust.
Surrender.
Tuning into the breath is the first step to honoring the flow of life.
Allow the part of yourself that worries to be held.
It is safe to stop worrying now.
The heart is ready to take the lead.
To have faith that life is a process.
That by engaging in the cycle of giving and receiving,
We will always be where we are meant to be.
With a light of trust,
Sense a loving kindness moving down over the crown of your head.
Expanding the space between your eyebrows.
Reassuring your eyes they may remain closed for however long they need.
It is not that nothing bad will happen.
It's that no matter what happens,
We will be there for ourselves.
Allow that notion to draw a slight smile on your lips.
And perhaps feel the rebelliousness in your ears.
The bravery to stop worrying.
And to trust in the flow of life.
Despite the culture of fear all around us.
As Therabrock says,
It is not your fear.
It is the fear.
A sense of kindness in your throat.
The home of your voice.
Kindness spreading into your shoulders.
Releasing the tension.
The bracing.
Giving them permission to stop being ready for the next blow.
Kindness moving down through your arms.
Down into your hands.
Your kind hands that tend to yourself and the people around you.
Kindness in your heart.
Vast,
Expansive heart.
A heart that knows we can't afford to worry.
We can't afford to distrust.
Sensing kindness and compassion fill your belly with joy.
Joy despite hardship.
Joy despite sorrow.
This is the joy that coexists with worry.
A joy that says,
I see you worrying again and I'm okay with that.
But I'm also going to enjoy this taste.
This sight.
This smell.
This feeling.
Allow joy and kindness to embrace your hips and lower back.
Your pelvis.
You are safe.
You may not always be out of harm's way.
But you will try.
And if you are mistaken,
You will be supported and loved.
In the cradle of your hips.
Your pelvis.
Your lower back.
Sending kindness down through your legs.
Thank you legs.
Permission for your legs to stop trying so hard.
There is nowhere to run to.
Sending kindness through your legs down through your feet.
Spreading your toes.
Delighting in an imaginary sea.
Now sensing your whole body in an environment of kindness.
Delight.
Joy.
Pleasure.
Holding the part of yourself that worries.
And seeing worry's face release its tension into a smile.
