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Overview
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781497699618 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | CareNotes |
| Publication date: | 11/04/2014 |
| Series: | PrayerStarters |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 35 |
| File size: | 239 KB |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
PrayerStarters When You're Worried
By Daniel Grippo
Abbey Press
Copyright © 2000 Daniel GrippoAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4976-9961-8
CHAPTER 1
Calm Down!
"He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, 'Peace! Be still!' Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm."
—Mark 4:39
Worry is like a storm that stirs up the waters of our lives. It's hard to see with any depth when the surface is choppy. Worry can cloud our vision and our horizon.
When worry has you all churned up, find a quiet place and take a moment to calm down. As you calm, your vision will clear. You can begin to see options. You can begin to see the shoreline.
PrayerStarters
1) Sit quietly for five minutes. Let silence be your prayer.
2) When you feel distressed, repeat a soothing phrase that brings comfort.
3) When you feel inner turmoil, close your eyes and picture the surface of a calm lake. Imagine yourself resting in a boat on the lake.
Ask for Help
"Help, I need somebody!"
—The Beatles
When we feel weak or unsure, it is hard to reach out for help. But don't fall into the trap of thinking you have to "go it alone." You don't.
Many worries are born of isolation. Turn to loved ones, and to God, for the help you need to sort through your worries. Remember, asking for help is a sign of strength, not weakness.
PrayerStarters
"Help!"
It's the shortest and most universal of prayers. Make it your prayer in times of worry.
Make No Payment Before It's Due
"Worry is interest paid on trouble before it falls due."
—W. R. Inge
Try to remember all the things you were worrying about a couple of months ago. Did all that worry affect the way things have turned out? Does worrying in advance about something that may or may not happen really help?
When we choose not to worry about things in advance, and allow events to take their course, it is amazing how many things simply work themselves out.
PrayerStarters
Use a calendar to schedule future "worry time." Rather than worry about an important meeting a week before it happens, for instance, schedule an hour of "worry time" the day before the meeting.
Most likely, you'll be able to scratch that appointment when the time comes. Meantime, having cleared today's calendar of worry, ask God to give you a light heart.
Talk It Out
"In the end, relationships save everything."
—Thomas Merton
Something magical and healing happens during conversation. When we talk out our troubles with someone, we literally talk them out—we externalize them, get them off our chest, out of our hair, off our backs.
Sometimes you just need to hear yourself think out loud. Then you're able to work things out. Talk it out, so you can work it out.
PrayerStarters
Have a conversation with God. Talk about your worries. Speak freely of hopes and fears. God is always available to listen, and to help.
That's What Friends Are For
"Like a bridge over troubled waters ..."
—Simon and Garfunkel
A friend is someone who listens without judging, supports us in times of need, challenges us when we need to grow. When we're troubled, a good friend will help us sort out our concerns and gain perspective. A friend can also give us support and strength when we find ourselves in troubled waters.
PrayerStarters
Make the cultivation of friendships one of your spiritual priorities.
Ask a friend to pray with you and for you when worry overwhelms you.
Make plans to enjoy a free evening with a friend. Put worry on the shelf and have a good time—God approves of joy!
Uproot the Worry Weeds
"No one ever plowed a field by turning it over in their mind"
—Irish proverb
Imagine your life as a garden, filled with healthy vegetables and pretty flowers, but also spotted with ugly weeds that threaten to crowd out the desirable plants. In much the same way, worry threatens to inhibit healthy growth in our lives. We need to pull those worry weeds out by the roots!
PrayerStarters
If you garden, let your time in the garden be prayer time. Apply the lessons you learn in the garden to your own life. What promotes growth in your own life? What keeps the worry weeds under control?
Ask the Master Gardener for help as you tend to your interior garden.
Turn It Over to God
"Let Go and Let God."
—12-Step Recovery Program Slogan
At the root of much worry is the issue of control. When we feel out of control, we worry. When events are beyond our control, we worry. Like it or not, however, much of life remains beyond our control.
It takes a lot of energy to try to control the uncontrollable. There is another way—if we can learn to embrace uncertainty, we will be able to live in peace, even in the midst of great uncertainty.
PrayerStarters
Have you ever gone on a "trust walk"? You close your eyes and must trust another person to lead you around or tell you where to walk. In another variation, you must let yourself fall backwards into (you trust!) the waiting arms of friends.
Practice letting God lead you on a trust walk through life. Even though you can't see what's ahead, trust that God will be there to guide you—and will be ready to catch you whenever you fall.
Don't Awfulize
"Don't worry about the world coming to an end today. It's already tomorrow in Australia."
—Charles Schultz
It's a human tendency to fear the worst. It's a way we "inoculate" ourselves against future disappointment.
But most of the time, the worst doesn't happen. And should something bad come to pass, realize that you will be able to call on unexpected reserves of strength and resourcefulness when the time comes.
Don't let fear of the awful keep you from enjoying the awfully good.
PrayerStarters
Dear God,
Help me not to fear the worst. With you at my side, I will be able to deal with whatever comes to pass.
Fear Not
"But he said to them, 'Do not be afraid; peace be with you.'"
—Tobit 12:17
Fear of change can keep us from facing our worries. Sometimes it's easier to worry than to risk changing the situation. "Better the devil you know ..." we tell ourselves.
The first step is the hardest. Ask yourself—What small step can I take today to begin to face my biggest worry? With that first step, you begin to cut a big worry down to size.
PrayerStarters
Dear God,
Help me to trust—even when I don't feel very confident. Give me the strength to take the first small steps to address my biggest worries.
Step Out
"One small step for a man ..."
—Neil Armstrong, astronaut
On a recent trip to the Grand Canyon, a troubled woman realized there was something out there larger than her worries. She decided to "toss" her worries over the side of the canyon. She walked away feeling light and free.
It's a big world out there—much larger than our worries. When we step out into the world, we can leave our worries behind, or at least see them in their true perspective.
PrayerStarters
Plan a short vacation to somewhere you've never been. Make few plans in advance of arriving. Let the Spirit move you.
Read a travel book. Let yourself be carried away.
Ask God to broaden your horizons.
Be Still
"Don't just do something—sit there"
—Anonymous
Sometimes the hardest thing to do is to do nothing at all. Stillness is difficult because we're trained to always be on the go. We live in a restless age, with many distractions. Stillness can help us see and hear more clearly our inner concerns.
Sometimes all we need to do to attend to a worry is to acknowledge it. Listen quietly to your worries and they will lose some of their power over you.
PrayerStarters
Create moments of stillness in your day. Whether you're at home, at the office, in a park, in a traffic jam, even the busiest days will offer some opportunity for a moment of stillness.
As you rest in stillness, ask God to help you attend to your worries and thereby to put them to rest.
Imagine That!
"If you can imagine it, you can do it."
—Dwight Daniels
Sometimes a large dog can be contained by a fence it could clearly jump, simply because the dog can't imagine itself jumping the fence.
Just so, sometimes we allow our own imagination to become fenced in by our worries. We may become trapped in a pattern of worrying because we can't imagine there's another way. But there is a way to live beyond worry—can you imagine that?
PrayerStarters
Visualize yourself smiling, carefree, walking through a field of flowers on a warm, spring day. Now, imagine your worries taking the form of butterflies and fluttering away!
Share the Load
"I do not call you servants any longer ... but I have called you friends."
—John 15:15
We can't always be the responsible one. Delegating involves trusting that others are capable, too. It is a sign of strength to be able to share responsibility.
Practice letting go of the need to feel responsible for everything and everybody. Remember, you don't have to play God. The role has already been filled!
PrayerStarters
Dear God,
Today I feel overwhelmed by these burdens:
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
I feel responsible for so much. Please help me lighten my burdens. Help me realize I'm not responsible for everything.
Rest Your Spirit
"... he rested on the seventh day from all the work that he had done."
—Genesis 2.2
Life is a constant flux between tension and relaxation. The phrase "work yourself into a frenzy" is a vivid description of what can happen when we lose sight of the need for a balance between work and play. A rested, renewed spirit is better able to cope with worry. Find healthy releases for tension and you take the steam out of worry's sails.
PrayerStarters
Set aside a time of the week for a sabbath—a period of rest, of peace and quiet, of gentle diversion. Use the time to renew your spirit through play, relaxation, time spent with loved ones. Recreation allows us to be re-created in the image of God.
Seek Solace in Song
"Music hath charms to soothe the savage beast."
—Shakespeare
Sometimes worry is a "savage beast" that torments our soul and hounds our spirit. When worry "savages" your heart, music can be a soothing balm. Seek calming music as a way to express and release your worries.
PrayerStarters
Pray or meditate with peaceful music playing softly in the background.
Select a favorite piece of music, one that makes you feel good about yourself and the world. Keep it close at hand for worrisome times.
Take up the study of a musical instrument. Hobbies help us forget our worries.
Laugh It Up!
"Laughter is the best medicine."
—Anonymous
When the ailment is worry, the prescription is laughter. Far from being a frivolous activity, laughter is central to our emotional and spiritual health.
It is true that we can't "laugh away" serious and worrisome situations. But sometimes a comic break is what is called for, no matter the situation. It gives us the emotional space we need to gain perspective. Laughter releases tension and renews hope.
PrayerStarters
Seek out friends who can make you laugh. Some of the holiest people have the best senses of humor. A joyful life is a mark of balance and health. Ask God to give you a joyful heart.
Give It a Rest
"Sleep Knits Up the Raveled Sleeve of Care"
—Shakespeare
Nothing fuels worry like fatigue. As the body tires, worry awakens. Sometimes a nap is all that is needed to disconnect the worry machine.
At other times, worry seriously disturbs our sleeping pattern. If you experience such problems, keep a pad next to your bed and write down any worry that keeps you awake. Determine to deal with it the next day and put it out of your mind.
PrayerStarters
Prayer for the Middle of a Sleepless Night
Dear God,
It's late and I'm tired, but I can't sleep. I'm worried about:
_____________________________________________________________________
Please help me give the worry into your loving care, so that I may get the sleep I need. Then, tomorrow, we can work on this problem together.
Follow this with a repetitive phrase or chant that helps you become drowsy.
Take a Bite Out of Worry!
"Worry—a god, invisible but omnipotent. It steals the bloom from the cheek and lightness from the pulse; it takes away the appetite, and turns the hair gray."
—Benjamin Disraeli
A well balanced diet keeps worry from feeding on your health. If you're going to respond to worries with energy, you're going to need your strength. Make eating well a priority.
PrayerStarters
Let meal time be a time to set worries aside and focus on life's blessings, including the simple blessing of having sufficient food to eat.
Try to eat with others as often as possible. Companions are, literally, those with whom we share bread ("pan"). Let your companions lighten your mood and enliven your spirit. You'll soon lose your appetite for worry!
Take the (Peer) Pressure Off
"You probably wouldn't worry about what people think of you if you could know how seldom they do."
—Olin Miller
It's natural to worry about what others think of us. We all want to be valued and accepted. But it's important to base our self esteem not on others' opinions, but on the relationship we have with the One who created us and loves us—just as we are.
PrayerStarters
Spend five minutes every morning centering yourself in God's love. When you feel loved at your core, you can face the world's problems with strength and optimism. Worry can't control a heart that knows it is loved!
Fix What You Can
"Worry a little bit every day and in a lifetime you will lose a couple of years. If something is wrong, fix it if you can. But train yourself not to worry. Worry never fixes anything."
—Mary Hemingway
If you find yourself feeling overwhelmed by the scope of a problem, try breaking it down into sections. Maybe you can't fix everything, but certainly you can fix some small part of it.
Taking action, even a small step, will help relieve your worry. By focusing on what you can do, rather than what you can't, you won't feel so overwhelmed. The unmanageable will become manageable.
PrayerStarters
When you feel overwhelmed by worry, find some small thing around the house to fix—sew on a button, re-pot a plant, change a light bulb if that's all you're up for. Reflect on God the Healer—the One who "fixes" us when we're broken. Ask God to help with whatever fixing you need to do.
Keep the Focus on Today
"There are two days in the week on which I never worry. One is yesterday and the other is tomorrow."
—Robert Burdette
We can think about the past and the future, but we can only act in the present. The past can provide lessons, and the future hope and resolve, but how we live today is what counts the most.
Make the most of the day at hand. Fulfill your tasks as best you can, gently nudging aside worries and distractions that pull you into the past or the future. Strive to be at peace with the present moment.
PrayerStarters
Stare at the second hand of a watch for an entire minute. Feel the fullness of that minute as you keep your focus on God. Try to be "present" to the present moment as much as possible.
Keep Your Battery Charged
"Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow; it empties today of its strength."
—Corrie Ten Boom
Like corrosion on a battery, worry drains our energy, saps us of our motivation and drive. Pay attention to the attitudes and activities that give you energy. Cultivate those things and nourish your strength. A strong spirit is the best defense against worry.
PrayerStarters
Dear God,
Renew my Spirit, even in the midst of my labors. Help me feel renewed and restored, so that I may face the day with the strength required.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from PrayerStarters When You're Worried by Daniel Grippo. Copyright © 2000 Daniel Grippo. Excerpted by permission of Abbey Press.
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