quotations about worry & worrying
People who are prone to worrying are soft-wired to pay attention to threatening news, thereby building up a library of evidence in their brains that worrying is necessary. Think about it. On any given day, there are so many threatening things happening in the world -- anything from new viruses, terrorist attacks, or political conflicts to a hostile email or upcoming storm are all real events. Yet, if you only pay attention to the threats, you have no space left in your brain to process anything else. Threat becomes your reality, and worry becomes your justifiable response. Anyone telling you to give up your worry will sound out of touch, to say the least.
SRINI PILLAY
"Managing worry in generalized anxiety disorder", Harvard Health Publications, February 17, 2016
Excessive worrying is like walking through a foggy street at night; you have no idea what lies ahead and the darkness and dampness create a sense of dread that is difficult to ignore. The actual landscape is easy to navigate, but because you chose to walk into the foggy portion of the street, you won't be able to see anything clearly.
ANTHONY JOSHUA
Overcoming Anxiety: How to Stop Worrying and Start Living
Don't be forecasting evil unless it is what you can guard against. Anxiety is good for nothing if we can't turn it into a defense.
BRUCE LEE
Striking Thoughts: Bruce Lee's Wisdom for Daily Living
Worrying ... is always useless. It is a form of inner considering--i.e. of identifying. It is a continual mixing up of negative imagination with a few facts and so makes only wrong connections.
MAURICE NICOLL
Psychological Commentaries on the Teaching of Gurdjieff and Ouspensky
Worry is different from fear. If fear is like a raging fever, worry is a low-grade temperature. It nags at us, simmers in our souls, hovers in the back of our minds like a faint memory. We may fear certain realities, like death; we worry about vague possibilities. Worry distracts us more than paralyzes us. It is like a leaky faucet we never get around to fixing.
GERALD LAWSON SITTSER
The Will of God As a Way of Life
Worms eat you when you're dead; worries eat you when you're alive.
JEWISH PROVERB
We are, perhaps uniquely among the earth's creatures, the worrying animal. We worry away our lives, fearing the future, discontent with the present, unable to take in the idea of dying, unable to sit still. We deserve a better press, in my view.
LEWIS THOMAS
The Medusa and the Snail
Put your energy into today and stop worrying about the past.
ERIN HUNTER
Rising Storm
Don't worry, be happy.
BOBBY MCFERRIN
"Don't Worry, Be Happy"
Action is worry's worst enemy.
AMERICAN PROVERB
A day of worry is more exhausting than a week of work.
JOHN LUBBOCK
The Use of Life
Worrying is holding on to problems without seeking help.
MELVIN R. HALL
The Sky's the Limit: Go for the Gold!
Worry is nothing but the bad habit of thinking about what you DON'T want to happen. It's a misuse of your most precious power -- the imagination.
DAN ZADRA
How to Beat the Jitters
Worry is a starting place, but not a staying place.
SYBIL MACBETH
Praying in Color: Drawing a New Path to God
Worrisome thoughts reproduce faster than rabbits, so one of the most powerful ways to stop the spiral of worry is simply to disclose my worry to a friend.... The simple act of reassurance from another human being [becomes] a tool of the Spirit to cast out fear.
JOHN ORTBERG, JR.
The Me I Want to Be
Worrying is about living in a "what if" state of mind and visualizing what you DON'T want to experience, instead of what you DO! When your mind gets stuck on a negative thought, it automatically shifts into high gear and tries to fix the situation.
JAFREE OZWALD
The Manifesting Manual
Worry-free living can be ours. Worry is merely an option. Take a lesson from our children. Toss your worries onto your Father. Then go outside and play.
RICK BROWN
"Let Jesus help you live worry free", Cypress Creek Mirror, February 17, 2016
What's the use of worrying?
It never was worth while,
So, pack up your troubles in your old kit-bag,
And smile, smile, smile.
GEORGE ASAF
"Pack Up Your Troubles in Your Old Kit-bag"
People who believe that worry is uncontrollable rarely get the signal to stop worrying.
BRUCE FERNIE & GABRIELLE MURPHY
Coping Better with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/myalgic Encephalomyelitis
Worrying is similar to purchasing ulcers on credit.
GREG REYNOLDS
"Issues of Faith: No worries when experiencing God's Peace", Peninsula Daily News, March 3, 2017