I strolled into bed last night a little later than usual - was still “buzzing” from playing with the drum machine in my awesome blossom audio recording program, Sonar. But it didn’t take just a little while to fall asleep - it seemed like I was restless for hours. I frankly don’t even know when I finally fell asleep.
What I do know is that, after the excitement of the music faded away, I found myself lying awake worrying. Worrying about my family’s financial future for which I was 100% responsible. Will I be able to send my youngest daughter to college? Will I ever be able to get us out of debt? Will I be able to ramp back up our net worth? Will I ever realize my dreams? Do I even have what it takes to do any of this?
And then I realized that a lot of my worrying was in the realm of the “Either/Or” context that I had heard about earlier in the day from my friend and coach, John Gaughan. You see, Either/Or thinking confines one to extreme conditions. It often sounds like this - If I lose just this one sale, then I will probably get fired. Either/Or… If I am not the world’s absolute best writer, then no one will buy my book or visit my website or this blog. Either/Or… If I can’t be a songwriter along the likes of a Carol King or a John Lennon, then why should I even bother picking up the pen in the first place? Either/Or…
There’s never any middle ground with Either/Or. It’s do or die. If I didn’t get an A+, then that means I must be a failure. As I write this, I realize how ridiculous it sounds. I want to explore how to keep from going into the insanity of endless worrying about these Either/Or conditions after I plop my head down on the pillow. Instead of searching for an immediate solution, perhaps it’s time to look a little deeper - at the problem.
Worry is the result of fear and lack of trust, lack of faith. I have witnessed far too many times the awesome power and the miracle workings of God, and yet continuing worry casts all of those experiences aside and says, “Ooh, but this one must be different. Things may have worked out back then, but not this time”. No! This time is no different than any other! God doesn’t pick and choose. God always follows through! What must become different is in my choosing to give more power to trust and faith than to fear and worry.
I make this commitment now - If and when I find myself in another one of these toss and turn worry episodes, I commit to seeing myself, in my mind’s eye, having already arrived on the other side with my goal already accomplished. Simply, I will imagine myself already being, doing, or having what I want!
There is a way to peace; and Spirit is always the way.
If this rings true for you, even in the slightest, won’t you join me by making a commitment to strengthen your faith and trust in Spirit and allowing it to overpower your worries?
Blessings,
Todd