Worry, or rather the stress it produces, has been conclusively linked to many illnesses, such as hypertension, heart disease and even Alzheimer’s. Yet worry has become a constant companion for many of us.

And, often, the more you need to relieve stress, the less action you take to do so – you postpone your exercise session because you are stressed by deadlines and think you have no time to spare; or you feel you need to get calm before you can even try to meditate.

Meanwhile, the worrying continues unabated, stressing you out, making you ill, pushing you towards knee-jerk reactions even when you most need to think clearly, communicate well and make cool-headed decisions.

When You Feel The Burden Of Stress Or Worry

At times like that, it is very useful to take a deep breath and remind oneself of one of Reiki’s principles for daily living: Just for today, I will not worry.

All the worrying in the world will not help us avoid the scenarios we dread. Taking preventive action might do that, but worrying is only likely to lead to bad decisions and inappropriate action. So, if we feel we want to plan for a future event, we should calmly make the best decision we can, act on it, then carry on living a calm and serene life.

One way to reduce worry is to live more in the present. We cannot worry about the present or the past, but only about possibilities in the future. So excessive worrying is a sure sign that, in your head, you tend to live too much in the future.

In reality, of course, you can live only in the present. If you want to make your future more secure (at least in your estimation), you can do so only by taking action in the present. So take the action and let go of the worry.

Another helpful idea is to meditate regularly; this helps us stay calm in difficult situations. A regular practice is also easier to keep up through difficult situations, helping us counteract the tendency to worry.

And meditation is all about being present to what is happening within us here and now, so it also teaches us to connect more with the present.

_{Edited by Nedda Chaplin
Image credit: peaceful momentsfrom Shutterstock}