Getting off with a Warning

"Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it..."
RUMI

This morning a man who has written a daily thought for years put in his opening the following quotation about worry:

“How would your life be different if…You stopped worrying about things you can’t control and started focusing on the things you can? Let today be the day…You free yourself from fruitless worry, seize the day and take effective action on things you can change.”

---Steve Maraboli, motivational speaker, author, academic, social philosopher, columnist; age not provided

goodreads.com (website)

He went on to write about one of his readers, a woman who is addicted to worry, and encouraged other readers to reply to his post (sharing ways we have been able to overcome worry.)

I shared the Daily Quote from Aaron that I had just received:

"The emotions are a major catalyst for humans. They're very powerful. They're painful. They're confusing. The best guideline I know is simply to ask yourself, 'What is my highest purpose here?' If the highest purpose leads you to enact the emotion, try it and see what happens. Perhaps insight will come that the emotion can arise without expressing it into the world, and without shame that it arose."

 

FYI—I grew up with a mother addicted to worry. I have that as basic training. Meditation has been for me the ability to hold my worried emotions without shame, allowing them to rise and fall without my having to get caught up in them. 

Yesterday, on my way to mediation group, I was stopped for speeding (30 in a 20). I had seen the flashing light, and I had dropped to 20 MPH. However, I had returned to a normal speed before completely leaving a school zone.

As I sat in my car while the officer ran my information, knowing I would be late coming into mediation and would miss the coveted opening words of my dear friend who hosts the group, I started tapping. (See information on the FREE tapping summit) 

As I tapped, I was able to forgive myself for being reckless. As I did, I genuinely felt gratitude for the job officers do every day. When the officer returned my drivers license and insurance and registration, I was deeply appreciative to be let off with a warning!

I tiptoed in to meditation with another student, took my seat, began to breathe deeply while also hearing others breathing. I appreciated watching my hyper mind slow from its ordeal. 

As we moved from meditation to sharing, I was able to tell my story when the conversation came right around to how you can often change the outcome by managing your state of being.

Perhaps overcoming the addiction to worry is like getting off with a warning!