Day 2 for 31 days of May-keovers-How to worry less and get control of your thoughts.

Have you ever watched water boil? It takes a while but the heat underneath it stays constant. This is like me when I worry. First I barely realize that I am doing it. Slowly after days or weeks I start to notice the tensing and anxiety. If I don't stop getting stuck on a problem it rolls into a boiling frenzy, as my thought bubble out of control. My advice is, learn to simmer down! Your problems may not go away, but you should try to do all you can to stop negative thoughts. I have 5 recommendations for you to try....

1. Recognize when you are starting to worry more than you should. As you feel the heat you need to change your thinking. In this article these thoughts are refereed to as "hot thoughts." Dan Roberts says these are thoughts that come with immediate negative emotions.Try writing them all down on paper so they get out of your head. This is like taking your boiling water off the stove. Next, do step 2.         
2. Pick a time not to close to when you need to go to bed and only then do you think about what is on your worry list. Put your pot of water back on the stove at dinner time.
3. Ask yourself if you can solve the problem at the moment. If not, move on to the next one. You may have to put a few on the back burner.
4. All of us parents can relate to the question "what is for dinner?" Oftentimes, we cannot change our situation but we can be okay with the unknown.
5. Change the situation or the reaction. How many of you have changed your dinner plan because something came up and you needed something quick!

Today's assignment:
Try writing about your most nagging thought and try to change the situation or reaction to it. Try this for a week and see what happens. Emotions need May-keovers too!