Living Life Poetically: The Psychology of the Worried Mind
This is part one of a short two-part poem series looking into the psychology of the worried mind. A poem on the psychology of the calm mind will follow. “The Psychology of the Worried Mind” personifies a mind that’s worried. Put on your imagination hat for a second and imagine being able to psychoanalyze a worried mind. This poem is the result of doing just that. If you happen to be worried about something, perhaps it will give you a glimpse into your mind. Moreover, this inspection may lead to reflection, a deeper understanding, and a renewed path to peace. The Psychology of the Worried Mind The worried mind seeks…
You May Also Like
“If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.”
“Money is ultimately not enough compensation for investing your time and energy. There has to be a sense of purpose, meaning and fulfillment. “
“You can either experience the pain of discipline or the pain of regret. The choice is yours.”
“To choose doubt as a philosophy of life is akin to choosing immobility as a means of transportation.”
When you want to physically get somewhere, you need to choose a form of transportation that’s mobile–something that moves–like a car, bike, plane, or your own two feet. You wouldn’t sit yourself on the floor and expect to go from point A to point B. Now let’s apply that same concept to when you want to get somewhere nonphysical. In other words, you want to reach a professional, mental, or health-related destination. This quote, by Yann Martel, implies that having doubt is the same as deciding to sit down on the floor expecting to reach a physical destination. The opposite of doubt, however, is faith. Faith is like the car,…
“Successful people have fear, successful people have doubts, and successful people have worries. They just don’t let these feelings stop them.”
Successful people are fearless, successful people act without hesitation, and successful people have no worries. Each one of these statements is false. However, we tend to subconsciously assume they’re fact. This quote, by T. Harv Eker, reminds us that our idea about successful people are most often wrong. They do have worries, doubts, and fear. Yet they forge ahead in spite of these feelings. If you’re waiting for these feelings to go away as a prerequisite for success, then you may find yourself waiting indefinitely, and you may find success always out of reach.
“Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear.”
It’s easy to assume people who show courage aren’t afraid–that they lack fear. But that couldn’t be further from the truth. There’s fear in all of us, and this quote, by Mark Twain, reminds us that fear is not necessarily absent in the midst of courage. It’s there. However, what is also present is a resistance to or mastery of fear. This means overcoming fear with faith (resistance) or using it as fuel (mastery) or both. So courage doesn’t absolve all fear but, in a way, it can be created and strengthened by it. It doesn’t have to be about choosing one or the other but deciding how we redirect…
“Embrace uncertainty. Some of the most beautiful chapters in our lives won’t have a title until much later.”
Many authors start to write a chapter without knowing what it’s going to be called. They decide that later. The same can be said of life. We don’t know what each chapter of our life will become as we’re writing (i.e. living) it. We can only look back at the pages later and define each time period. However, we often try to define our life chapters before they’re even written. But this quote, by Bob Goff, reminds us to embrace the uncertainty. We don’t have to know what our life chapters will become or what they’ll be called. And that uncertainty doesn’t necessarily forebode a terrible ending. It is actually…
“Celebrate endings—for they precede new beginnings.”
Naturally, we’re sad when something ends–especially something we enjoyed. But as this quote by Jonathan Lockwood Huie reminds us, endings are one of the things that make new beginnings possible. We may not recognize what that new beginning is at first. Sometimes new beginnings are wrapped in disguise. It’s easy to recognize the intentional ones where we consciously decide to begin something new to replace what has ended. But it’s harder to recognize the new beginnings we don’t decide on. Like the doors and opportunities that seem to open out of nowhere. Or the new beginnings that are within. Like the subtle change in our perspective–a shift in how we…
You May Also Like
“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work.”
“The things you are passionate about are the real reason for your existence on this planet.”
“Your Monday morning thoughts set the tone for your whole week. See yourself getting stronger, and living a fulfilling, happier, and healthier life.”
“If something is wrong, fix it now. But train yourself not to worry, worry fixes nothing.”
When something goes wrong, the natural reaction is to worry about it. But at the end of the day, that worry does absolutely nothing to make the problem go away. In fact, it can paralyze us and make it harder to do something about it. This quote, by Ernest Hemingway, reminds us that the problem is still going to be there unless we do something. So we have to make an intentional effort to act more and worry less. The more we train ourselves to do so, the more natural it becomes.
“Worrying is like paying a debt you don’t owe.”
This quote is by Mark Twain. It was later adapted by the American actor and humorist Will Rogers, who similarly stated that “Worrying is like paying on a debt that may never come due”. What both these quotes are saying is that worrying prematurely–when nothing has even happened yet–is a waste of time and energy. “Worrying is the construct of negative predictions based on fear.” Esthella B. The bottom line is the outcome of what you’re worrying about might end up being good or okay. You don’t know yet. So worrying about it is “like paying a debt you don’t owe,” or “a debt that may never come due.”
“Whenever you find yourself doubting how far you can go, just remember how far you have come. Remember everything you have faced, all the battles you have won, and all the fears you have overcome.”
Sometimes what lies before us seems more frightening than what we’ve already overcome. However, it may not necessarily be more challenging than what we’ve already gone through. The only difference between the battles we’ve won and the battles before us is the unknown. This quote, by N.R. Walker, is about making how far you’ve come serve as inspiration for what lies ahead. You may not know the outcome, but if the past is any indication, you will get through–just as you’ve gotten through all the things that led you to this point.
“We cannot direct the wind but we can adjust the sails.”
Without adjusting the sails on a sailboat, the boat would go wherever the wind takes it. So to get where it needs to go, the sails likely need to be adjusted from time to time–not the wind. Similarly, in life, there are some things we just cannot change. Like the wind. However, we try so hard to change them. But we can either let those things direct our life, or we can put up and adjust our sails. This anonymous quote reminds us to recognize the things we cannot change. Instead of exhausting our energy trying to direct those winds, we can focus on the things we do have control…
