The prompts below are suggestions for you to explore when you feel you are ruminating and experiencing stress through worrying about something(s).

Often, we can feel helpless, overwhelmed, and trapped by repeated worrisome thoughts and it is well established firstly how exhausting this is and secondly how it usually just leads to lack of sleep and no solutions! We can end up feeling flat and moody, and feel we are getting nowhere, while sleep becomes elusive.

A great start is this: Let’s honestly acknowledge that worrying about things is very exhausting, especially if it is a regular (repeating) pattern. It can severely disturb our sense of clarity, ease with life, and our sense of empowerment and joy in navigating through the ups and downs of life in general.

As with everything, it is not the problem that is the real issue, it is how we deal with it and meet it.

Below are just a few sample questions you may wish to explore to feel a sense of empowerment and to gain as sense of clarity, surrender, peace, and relaxation again. It is for you to decide whether this is something you wish to explore at this moment. You may enjoy a deep dive and answer all questions, or just a few! Whatever feels right for you in this moment is the best choice!

It is always helpful to start with a small worry you have.

So, let’s begin!
With your journal and pen ready, explore these questions, designed to help you with better sleep, and please aim to answer them freely and without judgement:

Question: What am I worried about? Spell it out. All the details if possible.

Make a list: as you write this out on paper, you will empty the stress out onto the page, you will empty out from internally holding on to intense thought processes in your head/mind/body and enable an opportunity to releasing the tightness and control the thoughts seem to have over you. You’ll be able to look at the situation with more of an objective perspective as you journal. You will be able to embrace a sense of relief, for in our ruminating mind, problems can seem huge and insurmountable, while when we write them down and reinvestigate openly, they often become much easier to address.

It is possible that you could get insights straight away, and new perspectives and inspirations as to how to navigate from here onwards.

Use pen and paper and know that this process is powerful and well established to be effective. You could use electronics, but it is not as effective as pen and paper neurologically. It is a better choice to use electronics to journal, versus not writing anything at all.

Knowing that most worries never come true, which is worth engaging in? They say over 90%or more of our fears and worries never come to fruition. We are collectively geared to much more worry than is healthy or realistic for most of us these days as we tend to rush through life and put off thinking about our problems until later and then when we want to relax, they pop up!

Question: Out of those worries which you have listed, which ones can you personally do something about?
Which do you have control over right now?

We can only truly control our way of being present to the problem. We can control how we communicate and how we can even let go of trying to control so much.

What we can’t control is: other people’s feelings, responses, or perceptions in this moment. But we can aim to clarify (potential misunderstandings) by communication in a kind and clear way, expressing what is important to us, for example.

Question: What can I do about the problem to prevent it/them or release it/them tomorrow?

Write down ANY ideas that flow to you. Let the writing flow, no matter how outlandish or simple the ideas may be. That’s the key. The more the better!

Question: What could be a proactive new choice, where I take ownership of my contribution/ part in this problem and meet someone/something halfway or in a new way?

Often when we take steps of being willing to change or open up more from our side, the other side responds instantly in a similar way.

Question: Can I let go for now and just trust that I have done all I can? Can I choose this now? Can I acknowledge and trust that I will navigate this with my best intention and capacity as the days continue?

Try it just for now and see how the stress melts away. Pretend for now that you can let it go, and sleep on it, and feel how that feels. Can you offer the problem to your unconscious mind, and for it to process it and come up with great solutions in the morning? Have your journal ready to write these inspired ideas down in the morning.

Question: Is my current thinking helpful to me or the situation/problem, keeping me calm and clear headed?

There is a tendency when we worry to see the heavy and negative side of a situation, which then overshadows the reality of the whole (or bigger) picture. When we focus on what is ‘wrong’ we spiral and feel drained and tend to look at the negative side, forgetting that there is another perspective, perhaps even a very positive one! Often things need to clash in order for the birth of a new way of seeing and being to arise. Challenges may highlight times for change in a positive fulfilling, new way. There is always a gift and learning in all situations. How could this situation you’re worrying about be viewed in a way that makes it a gift for you and all concerned?

Question: Do I need to seek guidance or support to help me?

If so who/what could this be?

Asking for ideas or help, or just being able to chat with someone to bounce off ideas is very helpful. Often, we tend to think we need to solve all our problems on our own but sharing it with someone we trust can relieve much of the deeply felt tension. External input may offer new ideas or clarify your own. Importantly though, giving yourself a chance to express, articulate and hear your own thoughts outwardly is immensely powerful in gaining clarity from within yourself!

Question: Are there things I feel I could communicate with elegance to release the burden/stress/worry? If so how ….? Are there boundaries I could put up for the sake of clarity?

Sometimes worry is like a cloud that overshadows everything, even our inherent logic and wisdom. Just asking the question above, opens a new potential way of meeting the worrying concepts and to put things in place which can help with greater empowered clarity and delineation. This enables peaceful sleep.

Question: Could I allow myself to feel this moment fully and to choosing to breathe deeply, knowing how calming that is? Can I choose to stay calm for now and see how this helps me with future decisions? Can I give myself more time to address this worry?

Could I do something now (or first) to relax and look at life through the lenses of inner groundedness, peace and connection with what is important to me? List ideas…

Giving yourself the chance to contemplate this can create space can instantly shift the stress away, and this is worth the consideration.

Question: Could a short, guided meditation right now help me?

Do I know where to access this easily so I can have more peace and clarity in my life?

Having resources to support you, easily accessible to you, consciously knowing how you can tap into them, can significantly short-cut the time you spend ruminating and help you to get back to a serene, relaxed state of being in the flow state and genius zone – and most of all a enjoy a peaceful refreshing night’s sleep!