Have you ever found yourself watching the sky – and not just for fun? I have, and often it’s to do with drying a mound of wet clothes flapping on a line. Oh so domestic, I know, but in the life of a busy household (without a dryer!) it is an important thing to get clothes washed AND dried.

Now, I live in a largely sunny part of the world where, excepting a period two years ago when it rained constantly for three months, you routinely get sunshine for at least half of the days in a week. Even so, time is precious and one likes to complete the tasks they have started, including the washing and drying of clothes.

For years I would go through the washing-pegging process and then subconsciously spend my day peering outside, flinching at every darkened cloud that hovered across the sky. On rare but overcast days at home, I even found myself hovering about the house, never venturing too far from the line, wondering if the sun would come out again.

You can imagine how difficult it was to focus because of my preoccupation with the appearance of every cloud bank on the horizon!

One day I (thankfully!) caught myself doing this and realised just how much energy I was wasting on something that may not even happen. And whether I worried or not, the sun would still shine or the rain would still fall and the clothes would get wet or dry. By focussing on these climate modulations, I was missing other opportunities! And you know what? I can count on my fingers the number of times I actually wasn’t able to get those clothes dry!

Have you ever made a list of the things you stress about?

You know, those things that worry or torment you, or even in a large or small way, control your life? I think that if we really challenged our concerns, we’d find that just like my potential rain clouds, we could probably count on our fingers the number of times they’ve come to pass.

I think that in many ways worry is habit. Perhaps a simple way to boycott our ‘might happens’, is to make a mental list each time we’re feeling anxious and categorise our concerns by considering: 1) Is it certain? and 2) Will worrying change it? (Even if it does happen!)

And once we’ve determined this, we can find something far more productive to do with our energy and time!