In my last blog posted on 17^th January, I had decided to smile and keep smiling. One of the emotions which comes in our way of putting in a smile is ‘Worry’. So, let us analyze what is Worry and how we can overcome it.

Worry is an emotion in which a person feels anxious or concerned about a real or imagined issue, ranging from personal issues such as health or finances to broader issues such as environmental pollution and social or technological change.

A moderate amount of worrying may even have positive effects, if it prompts people to take precautions (e.g., fastening their seat belt or buying fire insurance) or avoid risky behaviours (e.g., walking on the road or cliff diving). Good worry leads to constructive action" such as taking steps to resolve the issue that is concerning you.

Negative worry refers to negative self-talk that often distracts the mind from focusing on solutions to the problem at hand. For example, when students become anxious during a test, they may repeatedly tell themselves they are going to fail, or they cannot remember the material, or that their teacher will become angry with them if they perform poorly. This thinking interferes with focusing on the test as the speech areas of the brain that are needed to complete test questions are being used for worrying.

To combat negative worry, it is suggested that people should not worry alone, because people are much more likely to come up with solutions when talking about their concerns with a friend. The worriers should try to find out more information about the issue that is troubling them, or make sure that their information is correct. Another step to reduce worry is to make a plan and take action and take "care of your brain" by sleeping enough, getting exercise, and eating a healthy diet (without a "lot of carbs, junk food, alcohol, drugs, etc). Positive human contact such as "a hug or a warm pat on the back" helps worrier to feel a little more comfortable. Finally, the worriers should let the problem go rather than gathering them around them.

"Anticipatory and dangerous" worrying, which is called "toxic worry" can be harmful for our mental and physical health. Toxic worry is when the worry paralyzes us. Chronic worry can cause heart attacks, high blood pressure, ulcers, gastrointestinal problems, muscular aches and pains, skin rashes, eczema, respiratory problems and asthma.

Overcoming the “Anticipatory and dangerous worrying” is purely in our own hands and we need to use, to a great effect, our experience of incidents in the past and learn from them. All of us will agree that in the past, a majority of our worries were self generated based on our anticipation of a problem or problems. All of us will also agree that what negatives we had thought at those points of times never happened. So, why not take a lesson from those incidents? Is it not advisable and desirable also, to learn from the past, stop anticipating worries and take things as they come? I feel it is necessary for all of us to practice and bring our mind set to a level where we stop anticipating worries. And believe me, it is possible.

I have devised a simple formula to stop worrying. For any cause of worry, if the solution is in my hand, I will look for the solution and get rid of the cause. If the solution is not in my hand/control and is dependent on others, I will simply pursue the agencies concerned for solution without thinking much about it. The idea is, whatever I can contribute for getting the solution, I will, and leave the rest to the allmighty;

Let nothing disturb me
Let nothing frighten me
Let nothing take away my peace
May I wait with trust, with patience, knowing you will provide for me
I lack for nothing in You, God
You are my strong foundation
You are enough for me - St. Teresa of Avila

Harold Stephens has made a very true assessment of worry in this quote, "There is a great difference between worry and concern. A worried person sees a problem, and a concerned person solves a problem.”

So, let us endeavor to solve solvable and not worry about the un-solvable. Let us not let our mind become cluttered with worry. It leaves less room for the good stuff.

I am smiling again. Are you?