Quotes about Worries

The work of worrying – when it succeeds – is to rehearse what those dangers are, and reflect on ways to deal with them.  But worry doesn’t work all that well.  New solutions and fresh ways of seeing a problem do not typically come from worrying, especially chronic worry.  Instead of coming up with solutions to these potential problems, worriers typically ruminate on the danger itself, immersing themselves in a low-key way in the dread associated with it while staying in the same rut of thought.  Chronic worriers worry about a wide range of things, most of which have almost no chance of happening; they read dangers into life’s journey that others never notice.

Worries typically follow such lines, a narrative to oneself that jumps from concern to concern and more often than not includes catastrophizing, imagining some terrible tragedy.  Worries are almost always expressed in the mind’s ear, not its eye – that is, in words, not images – a fact that has significance for controlling worry.

Let go of your worries
and be completely clear-hearted,
like the face of a mirror
that contains no images.

If you want a clear mirror,
behold yourself
and see the shameless truth,
which the mirror reflects.

If metal can be polished
to a mirror-like finish,
what polishing might the mirror
of the heart require?

Between the mirror and the heart
is this single difference:
the heart conceals secrets,
while the mirror does not.

If you're looking for worries, you got 'em.