Why substitue wonder for worry

​Dear Why Team member,
I hope this week’s message has you wondering more than worrying. 
 

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​Notice how we humans posses both those traits: wonder and worry. Wonder, we’re born with- look at the little babies always exploring; worry, we develop- and the older we get, the wondering spirit can be strangled by the worrying spirit unless we actively resolve to prevent it. 

Just this past weekend, while waiting in a long line with my son for a snowboard rental, he said, 
“I worry that they will run out of snowboards”. Of course being his dad I took the opportunity to discuss the value, if any, of worrying. 
 
I asked him to consider whether the worrying would change the outcome.
 
Surely we all agree the answer is no. As we got closer to where we could see the rental boards, it was obvious that they were not going to run out. I remarked, “look at that, more than enough snowboards”. 
Then he said, “I really wasn’t worrying as much as I was wondering.” 
Awe, now that’s how these blogs get created.
 
Wonder is a positive trait, worry has a negative connotation. Consider how often you might be using the word worry, both in your thoughts and most importantly in your spoken words. How we think about the unknown future significantly impacts the quality of our life experience in the present moment. Worrying about a future outcome brings the experience of that negatively imagined future into the present moment, corrupting the very place we actually live: here and now! 
Sure we all think about the future and plan for it, but it’s likely that the best planners wonder more than worry; they plan for the best and prepare for the worse - not the reverse. 
 
Since we are responsible for our ability to respond to what life brings us, let us work to recondition ourselves to respond in more empowering ways; by noticing all the more the words we speak. 
 
I remember many years ago waiting in another line, this time at Disney; there was a young woman in front of us who had a huge bandage wrapped around her head. I will never forget this interaction; I struck up a conversation with her curious as to the bandage. She said she hit her head on a wall. As we continued our conversation, she literally said, “this line is so long I could just bang my head against a wall”. Whaaaat?! 
Of course I couldn’t help but bring her words to her attention.
 
Another story along these lines was one night having dinner with friends, the wife had a worry of bed bugs, they had almost become an obsession of hers - we talked about it a bit - and then later on in the evening we discussed the upcoming Halloween Party - I asked about her costume and she said, “I’m going as a Bed Bug” :-)
 
What we “think about” and more importantly what we “speak out” has a tremendous impact on how we 
“live out” our lives.
 
This week and beyond, consider all the more the words you speak and to begin substituting the word worry for wonder - it might just be a path to a more wonder-full life.
 
Make it a great week!

Steve Luckenbach