No More Worries, NOW

“Fear is not of the present but only of past and future which does not exist”

–A Course in Miracles

Lost In Thought

Have you ever laid down in bed only to find yourself concerned about the mistakes you made that day; instead of drifting off to sleep? Or perhaps, found yourself distracted by thoughts or plans for tomorrow; instead of focusing on the task at hand?

Usually we just accept these worries as part of modern society, blaming the fast paced life of jobs, kids, chores, and hobbies (if you’re lucky enough to have free time that is). But there is a simple exercise that takes only a few minutes, where you can use your senses to bring your mind out of that fog of worry and back to the ground.

A Dream within a Dream

NowDreaming, as opposed to DayDreaming, takes your thoughts out of the past and future, and places them directly into the Present.

With this technique you can simply take a minute for some NowDreaming, and realign your focus on what is happening right now. Here’s how it works…

1. Step away from whatever you are doing and find a quiet spot.

This may mean you need to remove yourself from your current surroundings, just close your eyes wherever you are, or simply turn off the radio/television. The point is to stop whatever you are doing. You’re going to keep on worrying and lose that chunck of your day anyway, so you might as well spend a minute in productive meditation.

2. Focus on your breath, letting it flow easily.

You don’t have to slow it down and you certainly don’t want to speed it up. Every time you take a breath, simply let your lungs fill up with air and then fully exhale naturally. You should feel yourself become slightly calmer after only a few easy breaths.

3. Imagine that you have just fallen asleep and started to dream.

In your dream, you have all the same memories about what happened that day; worries, mistakes, successes, all the checked off items in your to-do list. And, also in your dream world, you have all the same expectation of what still needs to be done today. But, since you’re dreaming, you know that none of these worries or fears should actually upset you or distract you, because they aren’t “real.” In fact, the only thing that is real, is your breathing. Your breathing keeps your in the Present moment.

4. Consider that the worries aren’t “real” because you’re dreaming.

Continue your natural breathing, while letting that knowledge sink in. Now here’s the odd part. The human mind can’t tell the difference between a dream and reality. Its all just electrical impulses in our brain. So, if you can shrug off your dream worries, then you can do the same with your real worries. That doesn’t mean you ignore what needs to be done, it means you simply don’t have to worry about it, because its just a “dream” worry until its actually time to do it.

5. Let yourself “wake up” from your NowDream.

Open your eyes, if they were closed, and take a few more simple breaths while you let your senses explore your current surroundings. Are your hands warm or cold? What colors do you see? Is it still quiet? Give yourself the time to Be Present and forget all those past and future worries. Just leave them in you dreams.