The Worry Trick: How Your Brain Tricks You into Expecting the Worst and What You Can Do About It
David Carbonellamazon.com
The Worry Trick: How Your Brain Tricks You into Expecting the Worst and What You Can Do About It
When are we motivated to distract ourselves from unpleasant and worrisome thoughts? When we’re not facing a clear and present danger.
if you create the habit of humoring your worrisome thoughts, you can increasingly pass over the invitation to argue without becoming embroiled or upset. You can play with the thoughts, rather than work against them.
Serenity Prayer: God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, The courage to change the things I can, And the wisdom to know the difference.
in fact the thought is simply an expression of nervousness
with thoughts (especially our own thoughts), it’s easy to get fooled into taking the apparent content of the thought as the precise meaning of the thought.
Ultimately, the real meaning of the worrisome thoughts of chronic worry generally has little to do with the apparent content and subject matter of the thoughts.
danger, we fight, or run, or freeze. For discomfort, we chill out and give it time to pass.
there’s always something to worry about, because we can worry about any possibility we can imagine. We don’t need realistic danger to worry.
We will also do better when we can recognize the worry thoughts as signs of nervousness and anxiety, the same as an eye twitch or sweaty palms, rather than some important message about the future.