“Worry is a misuse of the imagination.” ― Dan Zadra

Most of your stress comes directly from the way you think, and not the way life actually is. If you just adjust your attitude, all that extra stress will be gone.

Worry is something that adds most to our suffering. We worry about the past, we worry about the future, and we forget the only thing that really exists, the present moment.

As we worry, we are stretched between the past and the future, and the countless possible and highly unlikely futures. We live everywhere but right here where we are really alive.

So what’s the purpose of worry? Why does worry exist if it’s just something that gives us stress, makes a lot of our suffering and blinds us to the now? Why do we worry?

Just like every other seemingly negative emotion and mental state, what we call worry is just an inflamed version of its naturalness. And it occurs because we feel powerless.

We have the ability to be alert and to predict possible danger. This mental state helped us survive and evolve to who we are today. But it’s not meant to be our default state.

There are things we cannot control in life and this realization makes us feel powerless, so we forget the only real power we have, the power to make a difference in the now.

We live in a state of alertness always expecting danger and we feel powerless over things we cannot control. These two states add up on each other and worry occurs. it’s a loop.

So how do we stop worrying so much? How do we decrease its intensity and stop stressing so much? Here are some rules you should follow that will help you stop worrying so much.

7 Rules You Should Follow To Stop Worrying:

1. You can always control your response.

You cannot control everything which goes around you, but you can, in fact, control the way you respond. The most significant power is in your response.

2. You should embrace the possibility of problems.

You should not worry about whether there will be problems. You should accept the possibility that there might be problems so that you can predict them more clearly and take precautions if necessary. There are going to be plenty of problems in your life, and you will succeed in solving all of them, but worrying about whether you will have problems is just creating another unnecessary problem you can go without.

3. You can control only the now.

If you are worried too much about what may happen, as well as winder too long about what might have been, you are going to ignore and entirely miss what is. You should realize that worrying is a misuse of your incredible creative energy. Instead of imagining the best, try bring it out of you in the present moment. That’s the only moment you can ever make a difference in, and worry takes away the only real power you have.

4. You can make a difference in the now.

Today is where you make your own choice. So, today you should choose grace over impatience, beauty over negativity, as well as presence over panic and so on. The biggest way to stop worrying is to come to the now.

5. You can always make a progress.

There is absolutely nothing about the present situation you are in to, even the aspects which you cannot control, which will prevent you from making progress, step by step.

6. You are still here.

You are still alive, and you are still breathing, so you should act like that. You should let go of what is wrong and grab hold of what is right. Also, make things happen, and then let them happen. You should learn, accept, explore, as well as create and experience every single day, one tiny step at a time.

7. You can make the best out of things that happen.

You can always clear your mind and make better choices. You can always take deep breaths and filter out negativity. Keep being mindful. Keep breathing profoundly, as things ultimately turn out best for people that make the best out of the way things turn out.