There is an internet meme going around that I saw recently, one of those emotional posters, with the person strolling the beach at dusk, alone. The caption read “Worry is a misuse of the imagination”. The saying captured me for a few weeks, as these sayings can do. The idea that the worrying that I have done is useless made me think. When we worry we spend a great deal of time in thought constructing imaginative events that may never happen. We think about what ails us, and go over all of the possible solutions that we’ve gone over before. Often, I will hear of people who can’t sleep for worry. Imagine, giving up sleep or some other real thing for something imagined. I know, we’ve all done it.
And, that is what finally struck me in the moment. Worry is like guilt, it is a useless emotion. Worry does nothing. When we are under stress our minds can spend a lot of cycles spinning, or we can act. Without action there can be no end to the stress and worry. In moments of severe stress, we can take action and do what we can to alleviate the problem.
There isn’t always a solution that can be done now… so why are we worrying. When we worry, we gather the energy of the universe around us, that worries. The energy we attract is the energy that envisions things going wrong and doing nothing. A space of worry that envisions what can go wrong draws the wrong spaces to us. Now some people like those spaces, they like the drama of it all.
Let’s think of the law of attraction. What are we bringing into our life when we worry. We are creating a space for exactly what worries us. So, what can we do to draw in a better energetic space and avoid wasting time and energy on the drama of imagined events and things we cannot affect or change?
The first step is to learn to know when you cannot change something. When you are tired and going to sleep and you are worried, you need to ask yourself, “Have I done everything I can?” It is amazing how much energy is spent worrying when something could have been done. If there is anything that could be done, then do it. Act. Put your plan in motion. If the action or plan is too big or long for right now, then make a plan, and take the first step. The key is to figure out what can be done now. To determine what cannot be done today is the second item.
When we’ve figured out what cannot be done now, we can schedule it, break it into a plan of smaller steps, or rule it out as possible. Then we can put it from our mind. There is a very freeing space- if you let yourself feel it. It is the space of knowing that there is nothing that can be done right now, and letting concerns go in the now. This is part of living in the now, but is only works if you have done what it is possible and let go of everything else to the universe.
So worry is more than just an imaginative way of wasting time and creating stress, it is also a source of pain that can, if we are awake, lead us to enlightenment. Yes, enlightenment. That state of being in the now and being able to do what is necessary in the moment it needs to and letting that which we cannot change go.
My mind keeps drifting to the saying from Matthew 6 that says: 25″Do Not Worry, For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? 27 And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life?…”
We know that the collected works that were brought into the New Testament are from an old esoteric tradition. They carefully continue the hermetic tradition and the earlier works of many authors. Like those earlier works, the layers of understanding on how the universe works are hidden in parable and allegory. But this quote does not hide anything. It stands out with the beatitudes as some of the clearest teachings from biblical sources that are letting us know that when we struggle, we are doing it wrong.
We know that if we don’t actually get off our behinds, we won’t even be able to collect the fallen apples beneath the trees in the orchard, so clearly, the comment does not refer to lounging on the beach and waiting for service from some divine servitor.
We know that we will need to put our attention on what we need or want and some amount of focus – to allow the universe to bring us what we need.
We also know that the universe – and this passage clearly supports that – will bring us exactly what we have asked. I’m not a proponent or adherent of any specific faith, but biblically this and the passages from Matthew 7, Matthew 20 and Luke, which unequivocally state: “… ask and it shall be given to you… ” or “… ask and you shall receive…” or again “…whatever you shall ask for will be given to you…”. It couldn’t be clearer.
The universe gives what you ask for. The universe supplies your needs. The universe is an unending source of all that you could desire. And with this, then, why is everyone not fully satisfied.
The answer lies in this and other esoteric teachings. We as humans stress and worry. We live in fear. We see a world where when someone gets something, someone else doesn’t. We see a finite world of unequal proportion.
The key to manifestation. The key to getting is how we ask. Living without fear is the beginning. Living without worry and stress for tomorrow is the practice. Ask yourself, “what is the worst thing that could happen ?” You could lose your job, your home, your money. What then? You would find a job, a place to stay and start again. A friend would take you in, a new employment opportunity would arise, so much could happen. And when we are talking about success and finances, the worst that can happen is that we start again. What then, is there to fear. Why would we live in stress? Our worst case is that we lose some things.
The key to the passages and the key to manifestation, is to not be attached to our things and our situation, but to rather live fully. When we live fully – we are alive and happy.
When it is time for sleep, then sleep. When it is time to act, then act. The space you hold and the space you spend your time in – is what you draw into your life. If you don’t like the drama of your life, then change your thoughts, then your actions – everything else will follow from that.
