Conscious Cat Sunday: Don’t Wait for the Other Shoe to Drop

Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow, it only saps today of its joy. – Leo Buscaglia

Do you ever find yourself holding your breath, waiting for the other shoe to drop? Maybe life has been going really well for you, and it almost seems too good to be true? Maybe something bad happened, and you’re afraid it’s going to happen again?

There is no question that worry is a waste of time. Worrying won’t keep life from happening. It won’t change the outcome of what might happen. Worrying is a little bit like walking around with an umbrella on a sunny day. If you’re constantly waiting for the other shoe to drop, you’re going to zap any chance of joy out of your life.

The reality is that bad stuff happens even to good people, and no matter how positive or how strong you are, sometimes it’s hard not to get stuck in a vicious cycle of anxiety. You may feel like you just want to do whatever you can to protect yourself emotionally. The problem is that when you anticipate the next bad thing to happen, you’ll also get stuck in that negative energy, and you’ll be closing yourself off to the next good thing in your life that is just around the corner.

So how do you stop living your livfe with constant anxiety and worry?

Acceptance

Accept that life is not fair. Most people experience their fare share of pain and sorrow. But everyone has the ability to experience goodness in life, even during the darkest times. One of the easiest ways to do this is to reach out to someone else. Make another person smile and let the awareness of that smile reach your fearful heart.

Accept that there are things you can’t control. Whether it’s financial difficulties, natural disasters, or illness, it’s up to us to find our inner strength (and you know it’s there, it’s gotten you through dark times before!) And it’s up to us to reach out for help when we can’t seem to do it on our own.

Create new patterns

Recognize that you may have created negative patterns by how you responded to bad things happening to you in the past. The good news is that once you recognize that, you can work on creating new neural pathways by changing your thought patterns. Depending on how deeply ingrained these old patterns are, you may want to get the help of a qualified therapist. Energy psychology may be particularly helpful, utilizing techniques such as EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique,) EMDR (Eye Movement Processing and Desensitization) and hypnosis.

Embrace the good times

When life is good, allow yourself to be happy. Practice gratitude. Live your life fully present.

I doubt that cats go through life waiting for the other shoe to drop. For starters, they live in the moment. And while a fearful cat may react to loud noises or unfamiliar occurrences, she won’t spend any time ahead of the actual event worrying about whether or when it might happen.

The post Conscious Cat Sunday: Don’t Wait for the Other Shoe to Drop appeared first on The Conscious Cat.