The lessons M.S. is teaching me

One is finding a better way to deal with stress, how to avoid stressful thinking and I hope to learn how to still think about the things in life that come up but without so much stress and having that stress ruin my energy.
Last week my thoughts revisited my financial worries of being unable to work and that Social Security, when it finally does start, won't be enough to live on, and my mind just goes off in a tumbling knotted ball of worry.

I tell myself the good things I have learned and read about dealing with stress and worry. I remembered a quote by Dan Zadra that states, “Worry is a misuse of the imagination.” But then I fight back with thoughts of, “But I have to think about this stuff. This stuff has to be dealt with. These problems are real.” Sometimes the good thoughts and knowledge I have encountered don't replace my fears and worries with any comfort.----------------------My worry is stronger. That's because my mind is powerful.

So I see, I can use the strength in my mind to channel my mind for how it's the complete BEST for me in my thinking.

So now I have decided, as I have before but need to practice again, to schedule my worry time instead of having it be the ongoing nag in the back of my head. I'll schedule an hour or so only once a week that I allow myself to think of the things that need to be thought about but stress me out, so when a worry comes up randomly, I can think, “Shush, go away, I will think about you on Thursday.” But most importantly before I open those worry doors on my allowed worry time and let the worries zoom in, I will meditate, do breathing exercises and achieve a calm mind. I see I can choose which emotions I want to put on situations that happen and I will continue to practice, practice, and practice this idea. Then from my calm center I can look at the problems and ask myself, "How important is this? Is this really going to happen? What if something works out? What would I like to have happen?"

I will remember to take a deep breath often and think slowly. I heard singing about our worries is a way to calm them down so maybe I will sing in a slow calming melody and slowly state my thoughts. This could help disect the gnarled tangle of thoughts that have offshoots connecting to other worries. I will try to break the thoughts down to smaller pieces so I can see what is REALLY there and what is just an intertangled worry that has no real ground to stand on and take up space.

I am learning to sit back breathe, relax, let my worring go and calmly tell myself, “There is a way it will ALL work out,” and feel the peace of it even if I still don't have answers. Even if I don't have answers to what to do about my situation I can still sing about it to get the feelings of worry out. Perhaps that will help bring me back to peace.

I remember the song by Paul McCartney, Let It Be.

So finding peace even in times of worry is a lesson my MS wants me to truimph.