As you can see, there aren’t any benefits. Worry is almost exclusively about projecting an event that hasn’t happened yet into the future, pulling you away from the present moment, the only place where life actually happens.
We spend so much energy worrying about the future, rehearsing outcomes that may never arrive. Concern can be useful when it leads to action, like paying a bill or preparing for a storm. Worry does something else: it circles the same fear again and again without moving you forward. As the old saying goes, worry is like a rocking chair. It gives you something to do, but it doesn’t get you anywhere.
So how do you stop worrying about the future? You return to the present moment, separate your thoughts from the emotions attached to them, and remember that you always have a choice in how you respond. The practices below show how mindfulness, presence and the power of choice can help you let go of worry and find inner peace.
Mindfulness and Presence
The Rinpoches (advanced lamas) say: “Worrying about the future is like fishing in a dry gulch.” There is nothing to catch. Focusing entirely on the task at hand—Mindfulness—is the state where worry has little to no effect.
The Power of Choice: You Are Not Your Thoughts
One of the first things we forget in our accelerated techno-civilization is that we have a choice in how we respond to our own thoughts. Notifications, headlines and endless scrolling train the mind to react rather than choose. Yet the choice never disappears. It waits for us to remember it.
Separating Emotion from Thought
Thoughts come and go like clouds. We tend to mix them with emotions like dread, and that mix is what turns a passing thought into worry. “What if something goes wrong?” is only a string of words until fear gets attached to it.
If you can separate them, you can feel the emotion but choose a different one, like joy, while letting the thoughts drift by unattached. The thought may return. Each time it does, you get to choose again. This is the heart of mindfulness: observing your thoughts without being ruled by them.
Practice: Choosing Joy
Paramahansa Yogananda speaks of the joy of knowing God within you at all times. Even if you aren’t “spiritual,” choosing joy is doable, though it takes effort and practice, much like strengthening a muscle. Start small. Each day, notice one moment of genuine gladness and stay with it a little longer than usual. Over time, choosing joy becomes less of an effort and more of a habit.
The Cost of Worry
Worry is surrendering your power to a future that does not exist. It takes you off your spiritual center and places you in a story that hasn’t been written yet.
Imagine holding a child or a beloved. Would you sacrifice that precious moment for a worry? That is the true cost of worry. It brings discomfort, and it also quietly takes the present moments that matter most. Living in the present moment is how you reclaim them.
Tools for Mastery: Your Mindfulness Arsenal
If you have difficulty moving away from worry, create an “arsenal” of positive mindfulness tools you can reach for whenever worry takes hold:
- Inspirational passages: Keep favorite lines from scripture, poetry or spiritual teachers where you’ll see them every day.
- Pictures or memes: An image that makes you smile, or reminds you of what matters, can interrupt a worry loop in seconds.
- Real-life examples of people mastering the moment: Their stories remind you that presence and inner peace are possible, even in difficult circumstances.
- Meditation: Even a few minutes a day trains the mind to return to “now” more quickly. Our Guided Group Meditations are a supportive place to begin.
When a worry is about something outside your control, ask yourself: “Can I do anything about this right now?” If yes, take one small step. If no, let it go and return to the task at hand.
Breathe. Focus. Re-ground.
Take a slow breath. Bring your full attention to what is in front of you. Feel your feet on the ground.
You think your thoughts, but you are not your thoughts. You are a spirit beyond space and time, experiencing a physical presence. You always have a choice.
Blessings,
