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Flourishing Life | Psychology of Wellness | Emotions | I'm Worrying Again

I'm Worrying Again

Motivating Action or Overwhelming Fear

BY: T. Franklin Murphy | May 2018 (edited 2-15-2022)
Man experiencing distress. Blurred background. A Flourishing Life Society article on worry and anxiety
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We must manage worry, allowing worry to push action without overwhelming.
Somewhere between carefree living and ceaseless worry we discover thoughtful preparation. Through properly directed planning, we create better futures. The gift of thought, although essential to weave our way through complexity, is packaged with curses. Thoughts sometimes haunt the present, cajoling needless pasts and entertaining disastrous futures. The ability to plan easily slips from productive precautions to bothersome worry, hindering rather than helping.

We can tame disrupting worry but never dispose of it. Some thought directed towards the future motivates necessary preparations. I discovered success through focused attention to underlying thought processes. Simple awareness to our thoughts provides space—a separation between action and disrupting thoughts.
We can tame disrupting worry but never dispose of it. 
​Instead of being dragged into an emotional storm, we observe the internal process as a third person, curiously watching the flow of thought through a biological organ—the brain. By stepping away from burdensome thoughts—even just briefly—we loosen the emotional pull. This space allows for curiosity. We observe with compassion, exploring the human mind at work.

Books on this Topic

Interpreting Feelings

Redirecting thoughts from a reactionary state to a curious investigation eases the impacting force, interrupting the chain, and allowing for gentle redirections.

​When we interpret feelings with softer words, such as "Hmmmm, I am worrying again. How interesting that my mind does this. I wonder what started this bout of worrying," our words create a manageable experience.
"We humans have lost the wisdom of genuinely resting and relaxing. We worry too much. We don't allow our bodies to heal, and we don't allow our minds and hearts to heal."
​Thich Nhat Hanh
By creating space, we shift attention from the object of worry to an examination of the thought process contributing to worry. The emotions settle, and we rebalance.
Woman in obvious stress with both hands behind head and grimacing. A Flourishing Life Society article on worry and anxiety
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Cognitive Reappraisal  to Calm Worry

Cognitive Reappraisal is a proven emotional regulation strategy. Our thoughts, feelings and behaviors are intertwined into a constant feedback loop, each playing off the energy of the other. We must break the circuit, infusing more manageable elements.

See Three Emotional Regulation Techniques for more on this topic 

We habitually get pulled in, placing pressure on our sources of strength. The cognitive load of excruciating exhausts our system, and we collapse to the pressure, allowing the habitual reactionary flow to continue. Creating space rests the mind—just for a moment. We can work with the momentary break to restore the beginnings of balance and re-insert more constructive thinking and planning to the cycle.
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T. Franklin Murphy
T. Franklin Murphy
Wellness. Writer. Researcher.
​T. Franklin Murphy has a degree in psychology. He tirelessly researches scientific findings that contribute to wellness. In 2010, he began publishing his findings.

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External Links:
External Link:  Anxiety Is in Your Body, Not Your Mind
External Link: How to save yourself another pointless guilt trip
External Link: Opinions and Attitudes Can Last When They Are Based on Emotion
External Link: Complicated Grief
External Link: 10 Ways to Let Go of Anger
External Link: Living a stress-free life may have benefits, but also a downside
External Link. A Counterintuitive Way to Cheer Up When You’re Down

​Other Flourishing Life Society articles of interest on this topic:

Emotional Patterns. When Emotional Reactions Hurt. A Flourishing Life Society article link
Flourishing Life Society Link. Neuroticism. A personality Trait.
FLS Link. The Fleeting Emotions. When emotionally flooded, it is difficult to cognitively inject thoughts to escape the moment. We need habitual practices that we automatically integrate into these moments that calm the system first, then we can cognitively join adapt, thinking of the future.
FLS link-- Emotional Regulation: Emotions energize and push for action. Healthy regulation capitalizes on the richness of emotion and directs the energy towards life objectives.
Homeostasis. A psychological definition. A Flourishing Life Society definition link
Emotional Response. Emotions and Goal Fulfillment. A Flourishing Life Society article image link
We are pulled into harmful routines by emotion. We feel and then we react. Unfortunately, our reaction isn't always helpful. We need space to think and then act more appropriately.
A flourishing Life Society article link. Emotional Overload
Sensory Overload. A Flourishing Life Society article link
Behavior Activation. A Flourishing Life Society article link
We confront the overwhelming experiences of life through a variety of escapes. A healthy adults adaptation mature as they grow, allowing for contact with reality; others, however, build deeper deviations from reality and squander the richness of living.
Stressed Out. A Flourishing Life Society article link
Unprocessed Trauma. Psychology Definition. Flourishing Life Society article link
Flourishing Life Society link to Inner Peace. Creating Inner Peace with Reflection.
Guilt may push for change or leave us debilitated and paralyzed. Loving kindness is the healthy response to debilitating guilt.
We worry. Thinking about the future is an adaptive response to complex problems; we prepare and we avoid. But too much worry interferes with constructive action. We even worry about our worrying.

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We must manage worry to push action without burdening with overwhelm. Concern for the future is important but easily can become all consuming.
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