Before moving back to my hometown recently, I made the move to Toronto in the fall. One afternoon while trying to pack, prepare things for work and trying to find the right apartment, I was feeling overwhelmed and decided to put my beat up old runners on and take to the trails for a run.
The leaves were scattered throughout the trail and while I ran, the humid air was punctuated by scents of fall and the sights of a world preparing for a change of season. I could relate in so many ways and after a few minutes, I fell into an easy rhythm.
The thoughts persisting though, were those of worrying about finding the right apartment and jitters about forgetting something at the last minute that would take more than the last minute to sort out. I was grateful to be in a position to move, though there were quite a few stresses.
While I was passing beneath a bridge on the run, I noticed graffiti and before I could allow my worrisome train of thought to run away with itself, I smiled and had to stop for a picture.
As I stopped for that short interval and walked a little further, I saw another piece of graffiti that served as even more of a reminder that worry wasn’t constructive and that it would all sort itself out in the end.
It made me ask – what are my “dreams” with this particular situation? Is the way I’m worrying about this or thinking about it, decreasing my odds of success or happiness? All signs pointed to me limiting what good could come of it if I kept worrying a great deal.
Then I thought about what I was doing to achieve that and remembered that worry had little place in the equation because only inspired action was going to get me where I needed to be next. It can be tricky because at times that worry seems to serve the purpose of protecting us from harmful outcomes but there is, at its core, a difference between worry and planning.
Regardless of how big the situation, the hearts always show the way back to peace, no matter how far down the rabbit hole of worry we ventured.
All those worries never even came to fruition anyway, so that little heart-shaped reminder was on point during that time.
❤
Cheryl
The Finding Hearts Project 