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Chief Nechombo
My Perspective
WORRY is an inside job. “It is all in the mind!” as George Harrison says.
We are what we think. Good thoughts and good actions can never produce bad results. Bad thoughts and bad actions can never produce good results. Simply put, you reap what you sow. You cannot have a negative mind and a positive life!
Hatred, love, forgiveness, anger, all come from the mind. Included also is worry, which is the chief cornerstone of all the negative thoughts. Worry drains all hope, strength, gratitude and goodwill. It does not empty tomorrow of its sorrows, but drains today of its strength.
The Oxford Dictionary define worry as to feel or be caused to feel anxious or troubled about actual or potential problems. In scientific psychology, worry is part of perseverative cognition (a collective term for continuous thinking about negative events in the past or in the future).
An understanding of the above definition of worry from scientific psychology, should help us to know that worry is an inside job. It is a product of our creation.
Negative thoughts are self-destructive, these are thoughts of hatred, fear, suspicion, enmity, envy, lust, condemnation, self-seeking, strife, pride and many others. Positive thoughts are exactly the opposite, they are thoughts of goodness. Good thoughts bear good fruit. Bad thoughts bear bad fruit.
The wisdom of worry says: “Why worry?” There is no reason to be worried if you embrace the wisdom of worry. If a problem is fixable, if a situation is such that you can do something about it, then there is no need to worry. If it’s not fixable, then there is no help in worrying. The hurtful reality is: whatever is going to happen will happen, whether we worry or not!
If there is no solution to a problem, for example death, you will not be able to bring back the person to life and worry won’t help. Can any one of you, by worrying add a single hour to your life? (Matthew 6:27). If there is a solution to a problem, why do you worry about it?
If you encounter an undesirable situation, always ask yourself if it can be solved or not. Instead of worrying about what you have lost, you should rather concentrate on what you still have and can achieve.
“As the shadow follows the form, and as smoke comes after fire, so effect follows cause, and suffering and bliss follow your thoughts and deeds. We are made or unmade by ourselves. By our thoughts, we forge the weapons by which we can destroy ourselves.
“Likewise, we also fashion the tools with which we build for ourselves heavenly mansions of joy, strength and peace. We are our own maker and master. To be swayed by your fluctuating thoughts and impulses, is to be weak and powerless, to rightly control and direct those forces is to be strong and powerful.” (James Allen, “As Man Thinketh”).
Choose to be a disciple of positive thoughts and earn the wages of happiness.
Think well and have peace of mind. Learn to block negative thoughts. In relationships, focus on the good side of people because every person has some elements of goodness. You will never do yourself any good by focusing on the wrongs which people do to you.
Change your thinking and you will change your life. If you want everlasting happiness, you must learn to return good for all evil and love for all hatred, clothe yourself with the divine garment of forgiveness and humility. The god of your heart is self.
Wisdom key 1: Lack of wisdom
The moment we understand the origins and source of our worry, we are delivered from worry. Worry is not an event, it is a product of a continuous focus on negative thoughts, it is meditation (meditation is concentration; a strong focus in thinking about something).
You do not instantly become worried but a continuous focus on negative thoughts will ultimately produce worry. Worry is hard work of focusing, meditating on negative thoughts. You need to eliminate those negative thoughts so that you do not put yourself in a jail of damaging thoughts.
The more you concentrate on negative thoughts, the more you imprison yourself with feelings of suffering. Worry is a heavy burden to bear so why not offload it before it offloads you into the grave?
Wisdom key 2: Thoughts
produce feelings
Thoughts produce feelings of pain or peace. As long as we are awake, our minds are busy thinking on positive or negative thoughts. The choice is yours, what is running in your mind at the moment? How are your feelings as you focus on your current thoughts?
If you are having a pleasant feeling, that is wonderful. If not, the power lies within you, to change your thinking and stop the painful feelings. The Bible’s therapy to worry and all mind made miseries lies in this verse; “be transformed by the renewal of your mind” (Romans 12:2). Your mind is your healer!
Nobody but you has the password to change your feelings. Stop focusing on negative thoughts and experience the beauty of life which you have been missing for years. Remember that you can only flourish when the mind is free from worry. Get out of the blankets and start working, celebrate life by simply changing what you are thinking at the moment.
The writer is Chief Nechombo, Mr Langton Chikukwa
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