Worrying? Be present!

Renee Lehman

(3/2019) There seem to be many things to worry about: Paying off your mortgage, planning for retirement, the health of a loved one, your teenage child driving alone for the first time, or your child moving across the country for a job, etc. All these life experiences may have caused you to be filled with worry. So, take a moment to assess yourself. What causes you to worry? Does this worry support you? Most times the answer is, "No!" Worrying often increases your suffering. It tends to make the situation larger than it is.

In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), the Stomach and Spleen organs are responsible for the ability to think, memorize, and concentrate. They also give us the ability to "deliver" an abundance of love, nurturing, compassion to oneself and to others.

In TCM, natural laws are followed. Do you remember how in the December 2018 article it was discussed that we should follow Natural Law and conserve our energy during the winter? If we don’t follow natural law, and we deplete our energetic reserves, then we are more likely to feel worn out and get sick. As Grand Master Nan Lu states, "If you break a human law, you go to jail. If you break a Natural Law, you go to the hospital."

The Five Elements as observed by the ancient Chinese, are felt to be the prime energetic building blocks from which everything in the material world is composed. The Five Elements also organize all natural phenomena into five patterns: Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water. So, every living thing and every person are a unique embodiment and combination of these Five Elements.

The Five Elements reflect a deep understanding of natural law, the Universal order underlying all things in our world. It provides a master blueprint that diagrams how nature interacts with the body and how the different dimensions of our being impact each other. Together, they help us to understand the process of dynamic harmony and balance in the whole system of energy. Therefore, when it comes to our health, if all Five Elements are in balance within us, then we are at a state of optimal health/wellness.

When the natural laws that pertain to the Earth element and the Stomach and Spleen are not followed, i.e., chronic worrying, anxiety, and over thinking, then this pair of organs becomes negatively affected on a body/mind/spirit level.

You may say, "Worrying is natural." Yes, it is. However, chronic worry is not. Chronic worry is analogous to your car tires being stuck in the mud - your tires keep spinning, but you don’t get anywhere! Here is another example about chronic worrying. Can you see how unproductive worrying is?

Worry is like a rocking chair, it gives you something to do but you just don’t go anywhere!

What can you do if you consider yourself a chronic worrier?

From a TCM perspective, you can do things to strengthen your Stomach and Spleen (and therefore, decrease your susceptibility for chronic worrying). Such as:

• Eat yellow or orange foods, foods that are harvested in late summer, or root vegetables.
• Eat mostly cooked or warm foods. Drink room temperature or warm beverages.
• Eat dinner before 7 p.m. – this gives your Stomach time to do its digestive work, and then rest overnight.
• Massage the area between your sternum (breastbone) and your umbilicus (belly button). Place one hand on top of the other and slowly make five circles, clockwise. Repeat with five more circles. Then do this routine in a counterclockwise direction. Repeat this routine for five minutes.
• Practice Qigong (Energy exercise): Practice The Dragon Stands Between Heaven and Earth along with Grand Master Nan Lu (www.tcmworld.org/qigong-for-stress-relief-and-weight-loss) .
• Play in the dirt. As you work in the garden, planting flowers, fruits, or even pulling weeds, the Earth has a way of absorbing all of the negativity, so we can see life situations from positive perspectives.
• Once you’ve identified that you are chronically worried, write a mantra that you can repeat to yourself to make the daily worries a bit more manageable. You might repeat, "Everything happens for good." or "My purpose in life is to be happy." Whenever you find the worry creeping in, breathe and repeat your mantra. Help yourself to see the bigger picture and to focus on the good.
• Be present.

"The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past,
worry about the future, or anticipate troubles,
but to live in the present moment wisely and earnestly." - Buddha

"If you are depressed, you are living in the past. If you are anxious, you are living in the future. If you are at peace, you are living in the present." - Lao Tzu

Consider the following question: Can you change or control those situations? If not, learn to let the worry go. This is the first step toward finding your own inner freedom.

Consider the following:

In the Buddhist philosophy, nothing is considered concrete or permanent. However, we tend to attach ourselves to everything – our personal possessions, our jobs, our relationships, our family, etc. We tend to take life too seriously. We worry about everything. It can even be said that we are attracted (attached) to things that cause worry.

In Buddhism, worry is a form of suffering. Buddhist teachings are aimed at ending our suffering. So, from a Buddhist perspective, Shantideva (an 8th-century Indian Buddhist monk) says, "If you can solve the problem, then what is the need of worrying? If you cannot solve it, then what is the use of worrying?"

In other words, 90% of the things you worry about are out of your control so it’s not helpful to worry. The other 10% you can control so do something about it instead of worrying.

Psychologist Ellen Hendricksen (Boston University’s Center for Anxiety and Related Disorders) explains that there are two types of control. "When we think of ‘control freaks,’ we usually think of types who always want to keep everything under control, but there is also another form of control which involves accepting things that cannot be controlled." ‘Primary control’ is about trying to change the world around you. ‘Secondary control’ is about adjusting to what is happening around you. Research showed that people who have a higher level of secondary control are more satisfied with their lives than people who score higher on primary control.

So, if you want to experience control without stress, look inside instead of outside. Accept that you simply cannot control everything. This will help you stay calm when things go differently than planned. Try to be flexible and to move with what happens. If you move along with the flow of life, it will give you energy, for if you try to change the world around you, you’ll lose energy. As Marcus Aurelius (a Roman Emperor) stated, "If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment."

"The longer I love, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company...a church...a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past...we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude...I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it. And so, it is with you...we are in charge of our attitudes." - Pastor Charles Swindoll

"Be anxious for nothing, but in every situation by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your request to God." - Philippians 4:6

"I've lived through some terrible things in my life, some of which actually happened." - Mark Twain

Renee Lehman is a licensed acupuncturist, physical therapist, with over 30 years of health care experience. Her office is located at 249B York Street in Gettysburg. She can be reached at 717-752-5728.