Out on my walk today I had a perfect opportunity to clear my mind and take in this beautiful fall day. It is so easy to get caught up in negative thoughts or worrying about things. Usually I find my morning walk so peaceful and relaxing, but for some reason this morning I found it was difficult for me to just calm down and take it all in. I kept on having ridiculous thoughts of worry. Then I  remembered a story I once read:

A man who tried to get rid of his anxiety decided to hire someone to do all his worrying for him. He found a man who agreed to be his hired worrier for a salary of $200,000 per year. After the man accepted the job, his first question for his boss was, “Where are you going to get $200,000 per year?” To which the man responded, “That’s your worry.”

I thought about how stupid it is to get caught up in worrying about what might happen or what I could have or should have done. Then I took some deep breaths and came up with this:

• I am walking
• I am breathing
• I am thinking
• I am alive
• What else do I need right now in this moment?