July/August 2002
Feature Articles
Holistic Health Q & A
by Dr. George Forster
Of whiplash and prescription drugs.
What is... the Organic Movement?
by Robert Roman
Part one of a three-part article detailing
the author's personal experiences and the growth of the organic movement.
UnCommon Sense!
by David Findlay
The Middle East, terrorism, weapons
of mass destruction.
Articles on the theme "To Worry Or Not To Worry"
What, Me Worry?
by AnneMarie Dyer
A vacation leads to some spiritual
insights.
Worrier To Warrior
by Lisa Raphael
The difference between someone who
worries and a warrior, a person of courage and vigor.
The Righteous Worrier!
by Rev. D. Kaye Patrick
Does worry really mean loving and caring?
Or is worrying a waste of time and energy?
Let It Go!
by Tracy Woolrich
Easy to say, but how to do it?
Why Worry?
by Bob Murray PhD
The underlying cause of over-anxious
reactions and generalized worry - and the solution.
A Balancing Act
by Charles Larsen
Of over-reacting and under-reacting
and the attempt to find a middle ground.
Too Blessed To Be Stressed
by Rev. Pat Cross
The power to choose between a human
or a spiritual view of our problems.
Remember Scarlett O'Hara
by Dave Hunt
A life without worry? How to achieve
it?
The Righteous Worrier!
by Rev. D. Kaye Patrick
I grew up conditioned to equate worry with responsibility and love. Worrying meant that you were a responsible well-adjusted person who cared deeply about life and about those you loved. Not worrying (being care-free) meant you were a "flaky" individual who did not take life seriously and was incapable of loving deeply.
With that as your criteria, what kind of person would you have chosen to be?
I'm sure that I am not alone in having chosen to be a righteous worrier!
If I noticed I wasn't worrying, I conducted an immediate inventory of my life and made a quick review of all those I loved and should have been worrying about. The cure was certain. Instant redemption. My latent and carefree nature subdued once again.
When I was first introduced to the concept of worry as a waste of time and energy, I was shocked. I shunned the person who had dared suggest such a thing as being a morally corrupt temptress who would lead me into sin. Still, the idea of living without worry was tantalizing and I found myself dwelling on the idea when I should have been worrying. Although the guilt I experienced was at times debilitating, my fantasy of worry-free living persisted. I considered a support group to help me "stay the course" as a responsible and loving person for whom worry was a default position. My family worked hard to help me maintain my values but in the end I was lost. This is my story.
Certain literature had come into my hands. I read it voraciously. The ideas presented flew in the face of all that I had accepted as the normal conditions of living. The books and audiotapes that now seemed to come, unbidden, into my hands revealed a dimension of living that I had never dreamt existed. If what was being presented was the truth, the life that was unfolding before me promised to be a wondrous life indeed.
Worry had been a powerful habit of being for me. If my friend was late for dinner or if my mother didn't call when I expected her to, my mind automatically went to the "worst case scenario."
As I began to adopt a more hopeful approach to living, I experienced withdrawal, guilt, remorse, and shame. I was not living according to the standards that I had accepted as "good" and "normal." I accused myself of depraved indifference.
Guilt-ridden, I kept reading and listening to the lectures.
The powerful message that kept me moving forward into this unknown world of worry-free living, was based on the age-old wisdom that as a person thinks... so are they.
I was studying the Science of Mind. I found it to be an exciting and compelling philosophy based on fundamental ideas that we live in a universe that is orderly by nature and automatically responds to us by creating our experiences according to our beliefs. In words attributed to Jesus, "It is done unto you according to your belief."
According to Ernest Holmes (the founder of Religious Science, the organization that teaches the Science of Mind), our thoughts set a creative Law in motion that creates our experience.
Since I cannot stop thinking, and so cannot stop the creative activity of Mind, it becomes obvious I then must use the power of thought more intentionally.
As I came to understand there is a Universal Law that caused my thinking to show up in my life as effect (my experience), I became increasingly motivated to choose my thoughts carefully. The meaning of "behold the thing I have feared the most is upon me" was now astoundingly clear to me and I set about the business of correcting my tendency to dwell on negative possibilities.
The real shift came when I began to spend time consciously using the natural creative ability of my mind to consider what I did want in my life.
This represented a radical departure from my previous mental habit of the morbid contemplation of disaster.
I have unmasked worry for the thief that it is. Worry is not a measure of morality or love. It is rather, a culprit that comes at all hours of the day and night and robs us of our life essence.
Nearly twenty years have come and gone and my life has taken on new dimensions and meaning as I embraced this philosophy which not only changed, but saved, my life. More than eleven years ago I dedicated my life to sharing the Life affirming ideas of the Science of Mind with others. I became a minister of Religious Science.
I invite you to investigate the powerful truth that has set me free and that awaits your discovery.
Rev. D. Kaye Patrick has served as senior minister of the Religious Science Church in Edmonton, Alberta, for the past 6 years. She is continuing her ministry in association with Rev. Joan Pinkston at the Religious Science Church in St. Petersburg. FL (727) 323-5278.
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