Things You Worry About
When you live on the Gunflint Trail you have worries, they just aren’t the same as most folks who live in a city. I seldom worry about being mugged, car jacked or being shot at during a drive by shooting. I started to think about this topic when the electricity flickered off and then on again last night. Then it went off for good around 5:30 until almost 9:30 so I had plenty of time to think.
When the power goes off at our place there aren’t too many things to do. Luckily I was in the middle of cooking dinner and we have a propane stove so everything went off with the lack of electricity un-noticed. That’s a good thing when you’re cooking for 15 hungry stomachs. I couldn’t do the dishes after dinner because we didn’t have water and I didn’t want to go to the river and bring a bucket full up to the house. Back to what I worry about.
The first worry that came to my mind was, "Is every one ok?" I didn’t know if Bob or Mike was messing with the electricity or not and the fear of them electrocuting themselves was on the forefront of my mind. After I determined they were both fine then I thought about the line people who have to go and fix the electricity. What a dangerous job they have and to be called in to repair something right when they got off of work would be a bummer. Not to mention they would miss out on supper with their family. Next the thought of why the power was out and for how long it would be out. My brain worried on…
I was thankful for many things as I ran through the computer in my brain. "At least it isn’t because of a fire." "Good thing we aren’t too busy or we couldn’t be using the cash register, computer or fishing license machine." "At least the kids can’t beg to watch a movie." I was also thankful for the quiet; no refrigerators running, the phones not ringing and no buzz of electricity could be heard.
I tend to worry about way too many things. I never thought I would be a worry wart as I used to call my own mom. Funny how that happens even though we try to resist. I know I’m not worrying about the same things living on the Gunflint Trail as she about living in a city. Take for instance the other day when I was told there was a lure stuck in Josh’s carpet. Now my mom would have been worried about the carpet, she would have been really upset if it got snagged. Me? I was worried about how I was going to get the lure our without bending or dulling it.
If you spend your whole life waiting for the storm, you’ll never enjoy the sunshine." – Morris West
Worry is Negative Goal Setting… Find more information about worrying on Dr. Jill Ammon-Wexler’s website.
And in the meantime:
1. Refuse to worry. Remember — worry is a very powerful form of negative goal setting.2. Create a new mental image. Create and hold a mental image of how life will be when you reach your goal. The more emotion you pack into that positive image, and the more often you put your mental focus on it, the stronger the neural networks holding that image will become.
3. Bust your stress. Unless you manage your stress, it will continue to build "negative neural networks. Don’t kid yourself about stress — it is at the core of many serious life-threatening bodily conditions, and has a way of "pretending not to be there." Brainwave training is the fastest answer to instant stress reduction.
4. Build your self-confidence. Take some steps to build your self confidence. A huge medical study showed that low self confidence and negative thoughts cause your brain to physically shrink as much as 20%. Self confidence is not a lightweight issue — it places unrealistic limits on your entire life!
5. Take care of your physical self. It can be easy to just take your mental and physical health for granted until something happens. Simple dehydration equal to two glasses of water, for example, has been shown to reduce your mental performance as much as 50%. Add a walk and 20-minute workout to your life, and you’ll start to produce more feel-good brain neurotransmitters.
6. Grow your mind power. Your brain truly follows the same rule as your muscles — use it, or lose it! And today’s scientific evidence is that your brain is either growing, or it’s physically shrinking