Stop worrying that something terrible may harm your child.
You can learn to stop worrying that something bad is going to happen to your child today. As long as you have done everything that you can to make him or her safe — which I know you have — everything else is out of your control.
Everything else is out of your control.
Worrying about something isn’t going to inoculate you from something really bad happening.
I used to believe that: if I’d worry about something, somehow, it’d be less terrible if it ever really did happen. That’s bullsh*t That’s living the tragedy you are trying to avoid, every damn day. That serves no one!
I know you worry about your kids, too. Brené Brown cited research in her new book, Dare to Lead, that found 90% of parents imagine something terrible happening to their child.
All that does is take away your joy and waste brain clock cycles.
How about ruminating over the past? Oh my, how many clock cycles have I wasted on that!?
“I should have done that differently”
“I should have said that differently”
“I’m so embarrassed that I did that”
“I wonder what they were thinking”
“I wish I’d said…”
Take a moment and draw out any useful learnings and then let those thoughts go. Beyond the learning, those are useless clock cycles, guys.
Instead, let’s use those clock cycles to move yourself forward, help you achieve your goals, change the world, be a better whatever… wife, daughter, husband son, friend, employee, golfer, knitter, leader…
I wrote that mindfulness can help you feel like superwoman and this is one big reason why… because so much more of your attention can now go toward things you truly value and care about. That’s where alignment comes in and when you are aligned you are much more powerful!
Take a moment, now, to imagine a life-change you’d really like to make but haven’t yet. Lose weight, change jobs, ask for a raise, move — it may be one of those or something else. Now, imagine if your thoughts, feelings, beliefs, and actions were all in alignment — all moving you toward the same goal.
Truth, justice, and the American way! — Superman