When worry steals joy

We all know worry is pointless, but we tend do it anyway. Worry is a natural process of the mind - the mind will try to anticipate what might go wrong so we can get ahead of it and protect ourselves, but often there isn't anything to be done, so the worry only serves to stress us in the moment.

Often, we don't even realise we are worrying until we get a stomach upset or a sore jaw, or a headache caused by stress. Awareness of our thoughts can help us catch worry and stop it.

This week:

• Set a timer on your phone to go off at random times during the day. 

• When you hear the timer, check in with your thoughts. Is worry present? For example, are you mulling over a problem that you have? Or are you anticipating what might go wrong at work this week? Or are you overthinking about what your friend said to you last week?

• If the answer is yes, ask yourself "Is there anything I can do about this right now?" If the answer is yes, great. Go do that.

• If the answer is no, then let the worry thought go, it's just stressing you, and stealing joy from the present moment. 

• To finish - return to the preset moment by dropping into your senses - what can I see, hear, smell, taste, and touch in this moment? It's as simple as that.