The smothering effects of excessive worry can sabotage peace and happiness for hours, days, or even longer. Worry thoughts are typically rooted in the fear of change and/or the unknown, the uncertainty of future events or outcomes. Worrying isn’t bad in itself. It is an effort from the mind to resolve the fear and to aid in future planning.
However, it becomes problematic when the energy is persistent, stuck, and cyclic as you ruminate in the worry thoughts. Excessive worrying is like a freight train running out of control and derailing you from the magic and opportunities of the present moment. The consequence is thinking and behaving from fear and confusion rather than clarity and ease. Like me if you mastered the art of worrying, you most likely formed a habitual neural pathway contributing to the reason worrying shows up frequently and is difficult to interrupt.
Personally, I’ve come to realize when I begin to worry about my safety, my daughter’s safety, or my environment’s safety it is typically a cue I’m in a place of change and transition. The change triggers fear of the unknown and the uncertainty of the outcome which then retreats to a primal space of concern for my basic needs. It is important to explore how and when you excessively worry to gain a better understanding of your internal state. The awareness will encourage a feeling of empowerment in order to regain control and mastery of your mind. Sometimes you may notice physical sensations or pain and/or distressing feelings (such as feeling unsafe) prior to becoming aware of the specific worry thoughts.
Be forewarned, habitual worrying may initiate a fight due to its stable home in your mind, but it just takes matched persistence to evict its power. It is absolutely possible to master this new way of thinking just as you mastered worrying. It is a matter of refocusing your thoughts with determined practice in order to retrain your brain and strengthen a more adaptive neural pathway. I found during my journey of strengthening this new neural pathway (a new way of thinking and perceiving) worry still made itself known when I felt change on the horizon, but its strength lessened, its frequency lessened, and somehow it knew it was not worth the fight anymore. The worry and fear thoughts tend to resolve fairly quickly in the moment when I addressed its presence. Sometimes I had to address its presence several times during the day, again matching its persistence.
SOUL HEALING PRACTICE
The following are five ways to regain your power and begin having mastery of your mind: 1) acknowledge the fear, 2) neutralize the worry energy, 3) repeat an intention, 4) imagery, and 5) challenge the validity or truth of worry thoughts. The soul healing practices can be used one at a time or together providing a means to redirect your mind back to balance, peace, and clarity. I encourage you to experiment with the practice and adjust, change, refine it as needed so it truly resonates with your soul and your soul expansion.
It is beneficial to incorporate some type of diaphragmatic or deep breathing, grounding, mindfulness, and/or meditation practice when applying the soul healing practices. These calming exercises cue the brain and body to relax so it becomes open to the soul healing practice. I enjoy a grounding technique where I tune in to one or more of my five senses to ground my energy in addition to diaphragmatic breathing. This grounding technique may include tuning into a pleasant background noise, noticing the feeling of the weight of my body while standing or sitting, visually noticing the details of an object or person, or awareness of a taste and/or texture in my mouth. I also enjoy going outside or going for a walk or run to ground my energy.
1) ACKNOWLEDGE THE FEAR
A way to acknowledge the fear is to ask yourself: what am I afraid of? This question may generate one or more fear based thoughts. Acknowledging the thoughts emerging from the dark corners of your mind illuminates the thoughts like switching on a light in a dark room. This illumination provides an opportunity to see the worry or fear thoughts objectively, thus reducing the power of the thoughts. It is even more beneficial to write down the thoughts or to verbalize the thoughts out loud. Once again, it is recommended to utilize diaphragmatic or deep breathing and/or a grounding/mindfulness exercises to tolerate and to reduce any distressing feelings of fear, anger, or guilt and/or physiological reactions associated with the fear thoughts.
2) NEUTRALIZE THE WORRY ENERGY
Neutralizing the worry energy involves integrating two poles of energy, the dark and light, the negative and positive, the denser and higher vibrational energy. Imagine the dark or denser energy coming from below you and imagine pure, white light or higher vibrational energy coming down from above you to where the two energies meet in your mind, or more specifically to the worry or fear thought. Once the two energies collide, they are neutralized at the point of intersection creating an energetic ripple of peace and harmony that extends all around you. Breathe in the neutralized energy, the peace, and harmony and see it extend further and further as you exhale. When the neutralization is felt, you may then offer the intention for optimal vibration, peace and harmony to be restored by simply saying: optimal vibration, peace and harmony, are restored. Feel it, this optimal vibration, as it now fills your mind, your heart, your soul.
I also use a hand motion when doing this practice. My left hand acts as the lower energy (palm up) and my right hand acts as the higher energy (palm down) and when my hands come together to a clap, I then spread my hands apart horizontally signifying the neutralizing energy. This technique can be found in more detail in the book, The Temples of Light: An Initiatory Journey into the Heart Teachings of the Egyptian Mystery Schools, by Danielle Rama Hoffman.
3) REPEAT AN INTENTION
This practice is a way to interrupt the cyclic energy of worrying and redirect your mind. It can be any intention that generates feelings of peace, ease, relief, or harmony. The intention is a way to energetically surrender the worry or fear and to restore peace and harmony. Intentions may include: I release the future, fear, or worry to my sacred self, to source, to God, to spirit, to nature, or whatever resonates with you most and helps you to surrender the energy. As you repeat the intention either from within or out loud, it is helpful to include deep relaxing breaths and/or a grounding or mindfulness practice with the intention. Hopefully, you experience an actual sense of relief from the pressure of worry and fear and a sense of peace from a quieter mind. Another possible intention to practice is: I choose to not manifest or create worry or fear. This intention may promote feelings of empowerment and self-worth.
It is important for you to experiment with the intentions in order to make it your own in order for the intention to truly resonate with you energetically. The goal of the intention is to lessen the tension of anxiety and promote higher vibrational frequencies cultivating fertile grounds for manifesting what you actually desire rather than more fear based outcomes. It is probable you will need to be just as persistent with the intentions as the worry thoughts.
4) IMAGERY
Imagine in this very moment your life is absolutely perfect. This practice requires you to align with your inner child and give yourself permission to pretend and imagine like you did when you were young. With your eyes closed or with a soft gaze in a safe place, truly feel, see, and think how it would be if your life was absolutely perfect in this very moment. Inhaling and exhaling deeply the pleasant and gratifying thoughts and feelings.
The imagining of perfection, of having all your desires met and dreams come to fruition, will vary amongst all of us, but in general it is an activity to encourage feelings of fulfillment and complete satisfaction in the moment. Ensure this image of a life of perfection serves your highest potential. You may call upon this image as often as you need in order to interrupt and dispel any disturbing worry thoughts.
5) CHALLENGE THE VALIDITY OF WORRY THOUGHTS
If the worry energy remains unyielding in its grip in your soul, then you may want to further explore the roots of the thoughts and to challenge the validity. Challenging the validity of the worry thought(s) is a way to gain increased altitude to objectively understand if the thoughts are based in truth and reality. Review the blog post, “THE ART OF DISENTANGLING YOUR MIND” (15 March 2016), for a full explanation of how to apply this soul healing practice.
After conducting the challenge and discovering a more realistic and adaptive thought, you will once again need to be persistent in practicing the new thought. The continual practice will eventually strengthen a more conducive neural pathway to restore peace and harmony to your mind. As repeatedly stated earlier, it is beneficial to include a practice of relaxation or mindfulness to open the door for the new thought to enter.
MY EXPERIENCE WITH THE SOUL HEALING PRACTICE
There I was tumbling down the familiar rabbit hole of worry…
Excessive worry has plagued my life for as long as I can remember. Showing its sly head in the form of cyclic worry energy about safety, finances, achieving success, and finding divine love, basically rooted in fear. Typically with the worry, beliefs of unworthiness come along for the ride. It can consume me to where I feel wound up with a cluttered mind, emotional angst, and a tense body like I’m dragging a heavy weight impairing me from any sort of peace and harmony.
I will describe how I’ve used a couple of the soul healing practices. All of the soul healing practices continue to help me feel more empowered as I gain more mastery of my mind.
IMAGERY and INTENTION
On this particular morning the specific worry thoughts were not identified, but I felt an overall feeling of dissatisfaction, irritation, and fear. I went for a run. For me retreating outside and doing something physical helps to ground my energy and clear my mind. Typically after the runs, I stretch, do a few yoga poses, and meditate. I decided to try something different during the routine. I told myself to pretend my life was absolutely perfect in that very moment. I felt the power of the negativity wanting to immediately refute the idea by bringing the thought: but it’s not perfect, how can I even pretend it to be. Persistence was needed and the challenge was on.
I gave myself permission to connect with the innocence of my inner child and to explore deeper. I remembered how magical it felt to pretend and imagine like I used as a kid. With the image of my inner child, I again prompted myself to see, feel, and think what it would be like for my life to be absolutely perfect in this moment. I imagined all my desires were met and all my dreams came to fruition.
The word “free” surfaced in my mind and I saw myself rising and flying with grace. Then the word “organized” came forward of having financial freedom and being cluttered free both internally and externally. I felt an ascension in my heart with an overwhelming abundance of love, warmth, and joy. I saw myself encased in a cloud of completeness and peace. I couldn’t help, but smile. I felt protected and guided, and then the phrase: “don’t be afraid to teach” echoed in my heart. Empowered and vibrating on a higher frequency, I was able to interrupt the worry thoughts several times during the day. I simply recalled the morning meditation resulting in continued resonance of confidence and peace.
ACKNOWLEDGE THE FEAR
The excessive worrying was quite persistent on this night. I tried the intention, I release the future to God, which resulted in some relief, but I knew I needed to go deeper because my attachment to the worry was a bit tight and unrelenting. I explored the worry thoughts by asking myself: what am I afraid of? Almost immediately several thoughts surfaced: I’m afraid of missing an opportunity; I’m afraid of being alone the rest of my life; I’m afraid to wait; and I’m afraid of being left behind. I knew the origins of all these thoughts. They were imprinted in my memory during the tragic loss of my beloved husband when he was killed in the Iraq war.
By bringing the thoughts and its origins from the shadowy corners of my mind into the light (from my subconscious to conscious), the power of the thoughts dispelled along with the negative and persistent energy associated with them. I felt lighter with a clearer mind and a heart at ease, allowing me to drift into a deep sleep.
If I was still tightly attached to the thoughts and the associated negative feelings/behaviors, I would then try neutralizing the energy as described in second practice and if it still persisted, challenge the validity of the thoughts as described in the fifth practice.
It is my hope these soul healing practices provide you some relief and ease.
Thank you for another opportunity for healing, expansion, and soul elevation.
The purpose of this blog is to share with you how I integrate my professional mental health experience, personal experience, and spiritual awareness in the form of soul healing practices. By sharing my experience, it is my hope it will provide a practical example of how to interrupt and eventually resolve the cyclic energy of suffering and to elevate your soul.
These practices work best when you are ready to heal and expand. It is OK if you are not quite ready. Please be gentle and patient with yourself. You will heal and expand when you are ready. Sending you so much love, warmth, and compassion.
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Thanks again for visiting my blog and for your support. Stacy 💚
PLEASE BE ADVISED
The soul healing practices provided in this blog are meant as a tool to aid in healing and not for psychotherapy or social work practice requiring a contractual, professional relationship. If you need consistent therapeutic care and/or crisis intervention due to being at risk of harming yourself or others, then seek professional and/or emergency services immediately.
© Stacy L. Pintor 2016. All Rights Reserved.
Updated in 2022 by Stacy L. Pintor
(No part of this blog may be reproduced without written permission from the author.)
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