"I am an old man and I have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened" - Mark Twain stop worrying

What Is worry? Worry is a very strong feeling of anxiety. It's fear of the unknown - the thought that the worst will happen.

We may become overly concerned with future events. We may engage in repetitive negative self-talk with all the worst case scenarios. A lot of our thoughts will begin with …

"If only ….

I would have stayed at Home"

I would have said"

I made the opposite decision"

Or

"What if …

I get into a car accident?"

I get fired or laid off?"

My teenager gets pregnant?"

I become ill?"

Worry is a behavior - a habitual way of thinking. If your parents were chronic worriers, chances are you will be too - then you'll pass it on to your children. Since worry is a habitual behavior, you do have the ability to overcome it - to replace worry with a more positive habit.

What Do We Worry About?

When it comes to worry, studies have shown the following statistics:

40% never happens - so in essence we are wasting our time by worrying.

30% of what we worry about has already happened. Learn to "let go" and forgive yourself and others. You cannot change the past - no one can.
Accept it for what it is and go on.

12% are needless worries, such as what someone else thinks about us.

10% are petty and unimportant such as we worry about what's for dinner, we worry about being late, we worry about what to wear.

8% of what we worry about actually happens. Of this percentage…

4% of our worries that happen are beyond our control. We cannot change the outcome. These worries may include our health, the death of a loved one or an impending natural disaster. Often times the reality of these events are more bearable than the worry.

4% of what we worry about we have some if not all control over the results. Basically I think this is the consequences of our actions or inaction on the problems and challenges we face.

Given these statistics, you may find it worthwhile asking the following questions:

* How many times do we work ourselves into frenzy over a situation that is beyond our control?

* Why do we allow worry to stress us out so much that we become ill?

* Why do we waste our mental energy with worry?

I can't answer these questions for you. What I can do is offer you techniques to overcome worry. It's up to you to decide to stop the worry habit.
How Can You Stop or Reduce Your Worries?

"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

1. Prepare for the worst - Hope for the best. This comes right from the advice of Dale Carnegie in "How to Stop Worrying and Start Living". Accept the worst possible outcome and then take action to improve upon the worst.

2. Get Busy. When you find yourself beginning to worry - get busy on your to-do list. If you don't have a list - then write one. List your goals and the action steps required to meet them. One of the benefits of your to-do list is you will stop worrying about forgetting something important.

3. Distract Yourself. Call a friend. Read a good book. Watch a funny movie. Take the kids to the park. Take a walk. There's dozens of things you can do.

4. Get Support. Friends and family can be an excellent source of support. Especially if they will tell you how they see things. Sometimes just talking things out, helps the worry go away.

5. Make a Decision. If you're worrying about an unresolved personal or Business issue - then it's time to make a decision. Once you decide what to do, you can begin taking steps for the best possible outcome.

6. Confront the Problem Head-On. It's usually not the problem itself that is causing your worry. It's usually the anticipation of the problem. How will others be affected or react? Deal with the problem as soon as possible.

7. Practice Relaxing. It is important that you take time to totally relax. Close your eyes take long deep breaths in through your nose and out through your mouth. With each breath tell yourself to relax. It just takes a couple of minutes of this exercise for the tension to leave your body.

8. Listen to CDs. This can be your favorite music, brainwave CDs or behavior modification tapes that are designed to dissolve worry and anxiety. (These do not have to be self-hypnotizing or subliminal - but of course you can choose these types of tapes.)

9. Journal. After writing down everything they are worried about in a journal, most people feel a sense of relief. In writing you may have discovered what you are really afraid of, and then you can objectively work on improving the situation.

10. Take Care of Yourself. Get plenty of rest. Eat a healthy diet and exercise. When you nurture your body and mind, it's easier to put things in perspective. It's easier to cope with the unexpected.

11. Count Your Blessings. You have a lot to be thankful for. Look around you … We live in a beautiful world. You can be thankful for your health, your family, your mind, your country, your house, your job, your TV or even your microwave!

12. Monitor Your Thoughts. Be aware of your thoughts and be ready to replace worries with positive thoughts. Be prepared with a positive thought or quote, such as "Calmness is the cradle of power" (Josiah Gilbert Holland).

There are many techniques you can use to stop worrying. The important thing is to consistently use them until the new behavior becomes a habit.

“我活了好幾十年了，知道許多令人擔憂的問題，但事實上這些問題大部分從未發生過。”----馬克·吐溫。

遠離煩惱

什么是煩惱？煩惱是一種強烈的憂慮感，是對未知的恐懼，即擔心最糟糕的事情會發生。

我們可能對未來的事情過度關心，可能會產生消極的想法，一遍一遍地在心里設想著那些可能最糟糕的情景。我們很多憂慮都開始于：

“要是……就好了”

如：要是我留在家就好了

要是我說了……就好了

要是我做了相反的決定就好了

或者

“如果……怎么辦”

如果我出了車禍怎么辦？

如果丟了工作怎么辦？

如果未成年的女兒懷孕怎么辦？

如果我生病了怎么辦？

煩惱是一種行為---一種習慣性的思考方式。如果你的父母長期憂慮的話，你就有患上憂慮的可能，然后又會傳給你的孩子。既然憂慮是一種習慣性行為，你當然有能力克服它，用一種更積極的習慣來代替它。

那么我們都煩惱些什么呢？

相關的調查結果顯示了下列數據：

40%的煩惱從未發生過，因此煩惱根本就是浪費時間

30%已經發生過了。既然如此，就要學會“放得下”，原諒自己也原諒別人。沒有人能夠改變過去。因此應該接受現實，繼續面對生活。

12%是完全不必要的煩惱，例如別人會怎么看我們。

10%是一些細枝末節的瑣事，如擔心遲到，煩惱晚飯吃什么，穿什么衣服。

8%的擔心確實發生了，但這只不過是很小一個比例不是嗎？

4%已經發生的擔憂是我們無法掌控的，我們無力去改變事情的結局。這些擔憂可能包括身體狀況、一個深愛著的人的死亡或者一場臨近的自然災害。很多時候，擔憂要比這些事實本身更加難以忍受。

另外4%擔憂的事情，我們可以控制部分的事情結果，如果不是全部的話。我認為，這主要取決于在面對問題和挑戰時我們是否采取應對措施。

看了這些數據，你也許覺得應該問問下面幾個問題：

有多少次，我們為了一件超出自己掌控范圍的事情而把自己折騰得發狂？

為什么要讓自己被憂慮壓得疲憊不堪，甚至生病？

為什么要浪費精力去煩惱些什么？

我不能回答這些問題，我能做的只是提出一些方法建議，來幫助你克服憂慮。改變憂慮的習慣，關鍵在于你自己。

怎樣才能停止或者減少憂慮？

瑪麗·海明威說，“每天煩惱一點點，生命減少好幾年。有了問題，如果有能力的話就去解決它，但要試著不去為此而煩惱，要知道，憂慮不能解決任何問題。”

1. 做最好的準備，最好的打算。這正是戴爾·卡內基在"How to Stop Worrying and Start Living"一書中提出的建議。接受最糟糕的結局，然后開始采取措施改善狀況。

2. 讓自己忙起來。當你發現自己開始憂慮的時候，就去做日程表上的事情吧。沒有的話就列出一張來，列出你的目標和達到目標的行動步驟。這樣做有一個好處，就是不用擔心會忘記一些重要的事情了。

3. 分散注意力。給朋友打打電話，讀讀好書，看看有趣的電影，帶孩子逛公園，散散步……可以做的事情太多了。

4. 獲得幫助。家人和朋友是你最好的求助對象，他們如果能夠告訴你他們對事情的看法就更好了。有時候你需要的只是傾訴，把話說出來了，煩惱也就消失了。

5. 做出一個決定。如果你正為某個尚未解決的私人或者商務問題而煩惱的話，那么就是做出決定的時候了。做出決定之后，就可以開始采取行動以獲得最圓滿的結局。

6. 勇敢地直面問題。很多時候，造成你煩惱的并不是問題本身，而是對問題的猜測。例如別人會受到什么樣的影響？他們會如何反應等等。盡快地處理好問題吧。

7. 練習放松。安排時間來一次徹底放松，這是很重要的。閉上眼睛，深深地長吸一口氣，讓氣流緩緩進入鼻腔，然后緩緩地從口腔吐出來。每呼吸一次都告訴自己要放松。只需如此練習幾分鐘，你就會發現身體不那么緊張了。

8. 聽CD。可以是你最喜歡的音樂，腦波震動CD，或者專門用來消除煩惱與憂慮的行為修正磁帶。（并不一定非要自我催眠或者潛意識類的，當然，你可以選擇聽什么類型的磁帶。）

9. 雜志。大多數人在把擔憂的所有事情都寫下來投給雜志社以后，都感到了一種輕松感。通過寫作你可能把你真正擔憂的東西渲泄了出來，這樣你就可以開始以一種客觀的態度來改善狀況。

10. 照顧好自己。要有充足的休息時間，健康的飲食和適當的鍛煉。當身體與精神狀態都很好的時候，你就能夠更輕松地正確看待事情，處理突發事件。

11. 列舉一些你可以感恩的事物。你有很多值得感恩的東西，看看你的周圍，我們生活在一個美麗的世界里，你的健康，家人，思想，你的國家，房子，工作，電視，甚至你的微波，都應該感恩。

12. 關注你的思想狀態。了解自己的思想并且隨時準備用積極正面的精神狀態代替憂慮，事先要準備好某一種積極的精神狀態或者一句引言，例如“鎮靜是力量的搖籃” （約西亞·吉爾伯特·霍蘭）。

幫助你不再憂慮的方法有很多，重要的一點是，要堅持不懈地使用它們，直到新的行為逐漸成為一種習慣。