From Worrier to Warrior -- Four Ways to Transform Worry into Power

I'd like to tell you about the amazing power of worry. Everybody worries from time to time. The good news is, inherent in worry are two very special powers -- the power of VIVID IMAGINATION, and the power of PERSISTENT FOCUS. People who are really good at worrying, like I am, are actually able to visualize and feel the thing they fear as if it were real; in addition, they have the ability to tenaciously focus on it. Those are super powers! The trick is to harness those powers and use them for expansion and growth (instead of contraction and stuckness). That's when the worrier metamorphs into the warrior.

Since worry is a given for me, I have a choice to either use it to suffer or to grow. I don't like suffering, therefore, worry has been a compelling force in my personal growth. It is a burr under my saddle, a spur in my side, I am learning to harness it and take it for a ride, like a bucking bronco, riding out of the tight pen into an expansive field.

I want to share 4 ways you can use the power of Vivid Imagination and Persistent Focus to transform your worrier self into your warrior self:

1. The first way is to imagine the worrier within as a child who feels small and powerless. Imagine putting that child into your heart, and speaking to the child affectionately, holding, comforting and loving the child. In the act of doing this, you become your compassionate, loving, Big Soul Self, which is who you truly are, and your little worrier self is put into perspective.

2. The second way is to use worry as a catalyst for prayer. People who worry are motivated to pray. Studies of prayer show that what makes it most effective is imagining and feeling the energy of what it is we desire, feeling as if it is already so. Native American rainmakers say that they don't pray for rain, they pray rain, they imagine it, they feel it. When my husband Tom first came to California he walked along the ocean shore longing to see dolphins, but none were showing up. His yearning held an energy of lack, as if he were saying, "I want it but I can't have it." He recognized this, and shifted into feeling joy about the dolphins that he knew were there in the ocean, and he sent them warm feelings of appreciation. Before you could say "leaping dolphins" they appeared!

3. A third way is to imagine that Right Now is all there is. Worry is usually about a regretted past or an imagined future. You can use worry as a reminder to come into the present moment and be here one breath at a time, one step at time. My brother lived on his sailboat off the coast of Saint Croix and a few years ago Hurricane Omar crashed head on into the island and sank my brother's boat. He lost everything. He felt devastated and worried. A friend let him stay on his boat for awhile. My brother told himself to just take baby steps. He said to himself, "All I got to do is get up; all I got to do is get myself to shore in the dingy; all I got to do is take baby steps, one after another." A year later, he was a very happy man. He learned that he has more friends than he ever knew he had because people reached out to him and helped him get back on his feet. And he is living on his new sailboat that is even better than the one that was destroyed. What a difference one step at a time makes!

4. Fourth and finally, imagine that your fear and worry are just frozen fun. Fritz Perls said, "Fear is excitement without the breath." Add breath to worry and you free up that energy, turning it into fun and excitement. I'll give you an example: I'm always nervous before giving a speech. But I've decided to breathe and call my nervousness excitement, and now I feel a lot better about giving speeches. I sing to myself, "I'm so excited. I just can't hide it. I'm about to lose control and I think I like it!"

Is there something in your life that you're worried about? You can use the super powers of Vivid Imagination and Persistent Focus to transform your wimpy, weeny worrier into a magnificent, powerful warrior. Just imagine that!