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Worrywart's Companion: 21 Ways to Soothe Yourself and Worry Smart
Brimming with practical ideas you can try today, The Worrywart's Companion includes twenty-one simple things you can do when feeling a worry coming on.
- GenresNonfictionSelf Help
171 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1997
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
August 9, 2022
I really loved this book. It is a valuable resource for worriers and has an abundance of strategies for coping with worry. I am glad to say that I haven't worried much since reading this book and with all the skills it gave me, I'm confident I'll be able to handle worries when they arise.
July 8, 2024
The best book ever, I highly recommend it. It has delt splendidely with worry from all aspects. The book provided practical steps and pieces of advice that are truly great and applicable. Here are some points that O like about this wonderful book.
Negative feelings like anxiety, depression and anger don't actually result from the bad things that happen, they result from the way you think about those events.
Horney Karen said: that most people tend to rule themselves by the "tyranny of the shoulds"
- you build ideal pictures of the future with shoulds
A worry's job is to anticipate danger before it arises and to rehearse how to deal with it.
Hopeful thinking is an acquired style a way of looking at the world that bulids resiliency (resist anxiety, fear...)
Smart worriers think about the negatives and the danger of a situation, but once they have worried the problem through they change how they think about it, they let the worry go and redirect their thinking into finding a solution.
- create association between a situation (the worry place) and your response (worrying)
- describe what happened just before the thought to uncover the worry trigger
- worrywart focus on FUD fear uncertainty and doubt
- habits die hard, behavioural psychologists say that it is much easier to get rid of a bad habit by replacing it with another habit than to try to quit doing something you're accustomed to.
- avoid critiquing your ideas and dissmissing them before you can see where they lead
- having seen the flaws and imperfections in a person, thing or a situation, it's hard to forget about them long enough to perceive strong points or facts for that matter.
- smart worriers catch themselves demanding that they perform perfectly and give themselves permission to make mistakes. To be human
- bring rhe worry to your conscious attention before you can find a solution begin wirh: what am i worrying about?
- then ask is there anything I Can do about this
- find a distraction to divert attention from the useless worry
- you can defeat yourself by demanding too much too soon
- Breathing deeply while counting inhales and exhales
Write down frightening pictures you are imagining and ask yourself what is a positive possibility is this situation
Switch to possibility thinking
Don't fight it. Accept it and ask yourself what am I telling myself about this situation ?
Describe your worry_what you fear will happen relative to this situation.
Incompatible response : you can do one thing or the other
push anxiety out by breathing deeply
Distraction is shifting or redirecting attention toward something neutral or positive rather than trying to stop paying attention to the worry
Focus your attention on a repetitive activity while passively disregarding intruding thoughts . Bring your focus back to your rocking
Count your blessings:By shining the light of your attention on a worrisom situation, yousee only the worry, while the good things in your life lie forgotton in the dark
List good things you have (my blessings)
Imagine a life without blessings
List all the events that have happened leading up to the present (all the possible causes
Writing your concerns create a safety zone between you and your thoughts so that you don't feel so possessed by them.
Events themselves don't cause you to worry, it's what you tell yourself about the events that lead to worrywarting
Become a possibilitarian, No matter how dark things seem to be or actually are, raise your sight and see the possibilities_always see them for they always there.
-Norman Vincent Peale
One of the hardest things to do is to get started, the philosopher soren Kierkegaard said that it isn't a person's accomplishment that is laudable, it is that the person made a beginning.
- one trick that makes beginning easier is to keep breaking the problem into smaller and smaller manageable pieces until you find a piece that you can do something about now, then do that small step and you have made a beginning!
Negative feelings like anxiety, depression and anger don't actually result from the bad things that happen, they result from the way you think about those events.
Horney Karen said: that most people tend to rule themselves by the "tyranny of the shoulds"
- you build ideal pictures of the future with shoulds
A worry's job is to anticipate danger before it arises and to rehearse how to deal with it.
Hopeful thinking is an acquired style a way of looking at the world that bulids resiliency (resist anxiety, fear...)
Smart worriers think about the negatives and the danger of a situation, but once they have worried the problem through they change how they think about it, they let the worry go and redirect their thinking into finding a solution.
- create association between a situation (the worry place) and your response (worrying)
- describe what happened just before the thought to uncover the worry trigger
- worrywart focus on FUD fear uncertainty and doubt
- habits die hard, behavioural psychologists say that it is much easier to get rid of a bad habit by replacing it with another habit than to try to quit doing something you're accustomed to.
- avoid critiquing your ideas and dissmissing them before you can see where they lead
- having seen the flaws and imperfections in a person, thing or a situation, it's hard to forget about them long enough to perceive strong points or facts for that matter.
- smart worriers catch themselves demanding that they perform perfectly and give themselves permission to make mistakes. To be human
- bring rhe worry to your conscious attention before you can find a solution begin wirh: what am i worrying about?
- then ask is there anything I Can do about this
- find a distraction to divert attention from the useless worry
- you can defeat yourself by demanding too much too soon
- Breathing deeply while counting inhales and exhales
Write down frightening pictures you are imagining and ask yourself what is a positive possibility is this situation
Switch to possibility thinking
Don't fight it. Accept it and ask yourself what am I telling myself about this situation ?
Describe your worry_what you fear will happen relative to this situation.
Incompatible response : you can do one thing or the other
push anxiety out by breathing deeply
Distraction is shifting or redirecting attention toward something neutral or positive rather than trying to stop paying attention to the worry
Focus your attention on a repetitive activity while passively disregarding intruding thoughts . Bring your focus back to your rocking
Count your blessings:By shining the light of your attention on a worrisom situation, yousee only the worry, while the good things in your life lie forgotton in the dark
List good things you have (my blessings)
Imagine a life without blessings
List all the events that have happened leading up to the present (all the possible causes
Writing your concerns create a safety zone between you and your thoughts so that you don't feel so possessed by them.
Events themselves don't cause you to worry, it's what you tell yourself about the events that lead to worrywarting
Become a possibilitarian, No matter how dark things seem to be or actually are, raise your sight and see the possibilities_always see them for they always there.
-Norman Vincent Peale
One of the hardest things to do is to get started, the philosopher soren Kierkegaard said that it isn't a person's accomplishment that is laudable, it is that the person made a beginning.
- one trick that makes beginning easier is to keep breaking the problem into smaller and smaller manageable pieces until you find a piece that you can do something about now, then do that small step and you have made a beginning!
January 27, 2024
This was an exceedingly useful book and highly recommended for anyone who tends in this direction. I will be revisiting it’s useful commentary frequently since it is small and easy to be kept within reach.
May 9, 2007
This book is great! Love it
April 29, 2011
This was a cute book that my husband got for me. Since I'm a hypochondriac, it was just a cute quick read. More of a coffee table book, but fun just the same.
August 23, 2011
I tend to let my mind wonder and run away with me causing unnecessary stress. This little book provides very simple tools to avoid that bad habit of worrying over things out of your control.
March 28, 2013
Has some good advice about retraining your brain to stop catastrophizing situations and turn your worrying into good stress, but I wasn't terribly impressed by it.
January 18, 2016
A helpful book for those who worry.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews