DAY 8 - 

Dear Morning Pages, 

Oh my gosh I DO have a lot of worry - Huh, what did ”GoZen” say about helping with “worry”? Oh yeah, to acknowledge it as a part of you and talk to it.

OK Worry, hi. Hi there, I’m going to call you Worry Wart Wendy or Wally or Wendell, well I’ll think of a name soon but for now let’s just call you WW, short for Worry Wart.

Me: Hi WW how are you in there?
WW: Terrible! I’m just so worried all the time, there’s so many things to worry about I just can hardly breathe! Just when I start to make myself feel better about one thing, 10 more things pop up, it’s exhausting! And the things I worry about, or some of them anyway, they are really things we SHOULD be worried about! Things that actually could happen. Things that if they did come true we’d be miserable, devastated, it would be torture for us. I’m just trying to prevent them from happening by preparing!
Me: Preparing? For what?
WW: Oh preparing us for all these horrible things so we are ready, you know, prepared.
Me: OK so WW you are preparing by worrying?
WW: Yeah to protect us.
Me: So do you actually have any control over these things?
WW: Uh, not really I guess.
Me: Hmmmmmm...
WW: But at least if we worry it’s showing that we care! We care enough to worry about it, it’s like we are doing SOMETHING.
Me: Hmmmmmm...
WW: Well that may not make total sense but...
Me: (Silent but attentive)
WW: AAAAHHHHH! I hate worrying all the time and I hate bringing your vibration down!
Me: I know, me too.
WW: Oh gosh now I’m worried about US!
Me: Well, that is something we CAN control. (We both weakly smile)
Me: (Put arm around WW) So what can we do about this particular worry?
WW: I don’t know I can’t think straight with all this cortisol running through me. (We both laugh)
Me: What do you need from me when you are really worrying a lot?
WW: I guess for you to just listen to me and hear me.
Me: And then?
WW: And then to see if there’s anything at all we can actually do about it.
Me: And if we can’t?
WW: Then I guess you can just hold me until I feel better and the emotions have passed.
Me: I can totally do that.
WW: Thanks. ...
Me: Thank you for trying to keep us safe and happy. Thank you for always looking out for what can hurt us.
WW: Gee, I feel so useful now. Thank you
Me: I love you WW.
WW: WOW, I love you too, so much.