Worry,Anxiety and Laughter

“Worrying is carrying tomorrow’s load with today’s strength- carrying two days at once. It is moving into tomorrow ahead of time. Worrying doesn’t empty tomorrow of its sorrow, it empties today of its strength.”
― Corrie ten Boom

Anxiety  makes us ill in body, mind, and spirit. Yet worry is ingrained in our nature from the moment we are born, part of original sin. Babies are not simply empty slates; they are complex little people who just happen to be preverbal. Babies are born with more than simply inherited physical characteristics but personalities and even inherited blessings and curses passed down through the generations,

Yes, my children came from the heart of God with a purity and innocence radiating around them. On the other hand they are human beings with faults, weaknesses and even sin as part of who they are. Babies can worry and are often. fearful just like adults.

.The fact remains, though, I must let go of worry and control, even though it goes against every fiber of my being.  I love to control so God often must shatter my safe little world because this is the only way I would step out of my comfort zone.

“How would your life be different if…You stopped worrying about things you can’t control and started focusing on the things you can? Let today be the day…You free yourself from fruitless worry, seize the day and take effective action on things you can change.” 
― Steve Maraboli, Life, the Truth, and Being Free

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 Many times devastating circumstances have ended one way of life for our family with  something new always rising out of the ashes

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 I had to learn to relax and patiently let the process unfold naturally since melodrama really did not help.

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I always say I finally can laugh in the face of tragedy. Laughter puts every thing into perspective. Although stuck in wretched circumstances, I still can change how I feel and how I think. Christian Cognitive Therapy is a powerful tool. I can often change my thoughts and focus on all the blessing is my life, instead of everything going wrong. Amazingly my emotions change as well. For example, no matter what the circumstances, I still can see, hear, use all my limbs and I don’t have a chronic illness.

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 But what about the times when you simply cannot change your thoughts, when you can’t snap out of anxiety or panic? My family coined a phrase for crazy thinking that leads to stress. Repeat this phrase and once again laughter will put a stop to your running brain, guaranteed.

No more Mental Kung-Fu

 Really, humans are so illogical, we are comical. Laughter cuts through our  anxiety because we realize how absurd we are. Listen to the Words of Jesus:

Might as well give up. I was not designed to control everything and everyone. So I might as well give up control and give God His job back.  When I accept that I am simply a child of God, nothing more, nothing less, then I can relax.

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Laughter really is the best medicine