Don't Worry ... Be Happy!

I worry. It's true. I do. I learned this useless skill as a child, and I have practiced it until it has become a way of being at times. I'm rather good at it. And I recognize that it is not only not useful, but that it is a detriment to creating what I want to create in my life.

Sometimes, when I go to bed at night and I have a hard time falling asleep, I find my mind thinking thoughts that it has no logical reason to think. When I catch myself doing it, I can usually say "Stop it, Anne! Look at what you're doing. Think something happier!" But sometimes it takes me a while to realize that I'm doing it. I'm having conversations in my head with someone I am upset with, or I am creating scenarios I really don't want to experience!

It's not pretty, and it's not much fun.

In "The Secret," we are reminded that everything we think has energy or vibration, and when we add feelings to what we think, we give those thoughts power. Both fear and joy have power. Now fortunately, we live in a physical world where we do not experience instant manifestation - where if we were to think of an elephant then suddenly the elephant stands before us. Rather, we have time between the thought and the manifestation of that thought - for the most part.

For me, I am really grateful for that, because I really don't want everything I think to be manifested immediately.

Although there are times...

So, what is worry?

Well, like I said, for me, it is a practiced way of being - at times. And I am grateful for the "at times" part of that sentence. I used to worry far more than I do now. This is a good thing. It is a good thing that I used to worry about a lot more things, with more intensity, and with far more frequency than I do now.

Since studying the Law of Attraction, I now realize that the reason my life is so much better than it used to be is that I have really worked hard on nipping the worry habit in the bud. You see, when I used to worry more (and let's add complain more into that mix, shall we?), I used to be creating with the very energy I am now using to create joy and abundance and love with.

Peter Williams wrote a book entitled "You Can't Afford the Luxury of a Negative Thought." He was right! We can't. Because those thoughts have power. They have energy, and they have their very own life force, which, if practiced frequently and often enough and with enough intensity, can wreak some real havoc in our lives.

Ok, so while I get that in my head, the issue I have is how to apply that in my life?

Abraham of Abraham-Hicks fame says we are "sloppy thinkers." I think they are right. I know I am. And while I have really worked on cleaning up my way of thinking, I still get seduced by worry and fear.

I remember Wayne Dyer using this example in one of his talks. He said "Think of something that upsets you, like a beautiful animal that has just been hit by the side of the road. It is laying there, bleeding and dying, in pain."

And then he said "Now think of something that brings you joy and delight, like the smile of your child when they were a baby, or a beautiful garden, or your beloved pet doing something funny."

See how easy it is to think of upsetting - and happy - thoughts? Just choose.

Jesus said "Choose ye this day whom ye shall serve: love or fear." It's the same thing. And this wisdom and advice has been handed down for centuries for a very good reason. It works! Just choose.

So the more I choose joyful, happy thoughts, the more I feel joyful and happy. And the more I feel joyful and happy, the more joyful and happy experiences show up in my life.

It really is that simple.

I didn't say it was easy.

Regardless of its ease or simplicity, I am a living example of the power of choice in choosing happy over sad, of choosing love over fear, of choosing joy over worry.

Well, usually.

I still have some work to do. But what else am I here for except to learn this and to be it (which, by the way, equals sharing it)?

Don't worry ... Be happy!