We lost one of our dogs, Pontik, this morning. Every body was in tears, frantically searching all the streets and putting up posters. I had a huge food order today as well, which I really wanted to do well, and I’ve barely slept all night, so to say I was stressed is an understatement.

Every moment of the day was filled worrying about the dog. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t get him out of my mind. “He must be thirsty, what if bad people took him, what is he eats junk food on the street and gets sick…”

By 5pm I am exhausted from worrying and from running around, had tomato sauce everywhere, changed my t-shirt 3 times and had shouted at my boyfriend for no good reason. That’s when my grandma calls me up and says Pontik has been found…in my mother’s wardrobe. He was quietly playing hide and seek with us, and even though every inch of the house has been checked, he managed to stay hidden.

How many times a day do you worry? I dare you to count it.

Try to notice what you worry about. Money? Relationships? Do you wonder if you left the iron plugged? Do you worry if your child is safe at their friends house? That you left food on the table with the dog in the room?

I challenge you to keep a diary for one whole week, what have you got to lose?

All these things go through our minds everyday, but are they really necessary?

Worrying about Pontik did me absolutely no good. Did it help find him? No – in fact, it made me less rational as my first instinct was to look all over the house, but I ignored my intuition because I was so upset. My grandma also has an amazing connection with her Higher Self, but because she was in hysterics she couldn’t listen to the voice within her.

Did it do him any good? Absolutely not, did you know that if you worry about someone, you send them “worry vibes” as I call them, which is basically like a negative wave of emotion. They may not know why, but they will pick it up and it will affect their mood one way or another.

Guess what else? Worrying is what leads many people to eat junk food. My first thought was “I want something sweet”. Good thing I make my own raw chocolate so I didn’t go for doughnuts…bad news is that I ate some of the order I had to give tomorrow haha!

But the worst part is…you get wrinkles!!! And I’m totally serious!!

By worrying you attract the very thing you don’t want

I’m sure you’ve heard of the law of attraction, right? Basically, whatever you think about most, becomes true for you. For example, if you worry about money, you think to yourself that you’re so poor and that money never comes your way. If you keep that program in your head, thats exactly what will happen, you will stay poor. It’s like your body things “oh he keeps saying that, that must be what he wants”.

So what should you do instead of worry?

TRUST the Universe, believe that everything is perfect and that even if something did happen, there is a good reason for it. You’re not any more in control of the situation if you worry about it. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t hang posters if your dog goes missing, but try not to imagine all the places where he could be in in your head.

If your child doesn’t pick up their phone, don’t shout down the line “where were you, I’ve been calling you all day?!”. They don’t have to be available 24/7 and just because they don’t pick up, doesn’t mean they’re lying in a ditch somewhere, maybe they’re out jet skiing and having fun. By saying that line above, it creates unnecessary tension, when the child has done absolutely nothing wrong.

Besides not worrying, just let life carry you!

My Balinese “aunt” (her name is Ayu and she has wonderful guest houses in Ubud, Bali) asked me to help her out with something a few months ago, which in involved me riding at the back of her moped for a bit. Usually I’m the one driving so for a moment there I just closed my eyes… and had a really profound experience. I was literally letting life carry me, I was releasing my need to control the situation.

It didn’t feel like a simple bike ride, it felt as if I was travelling through my life’s timeline. Some parts were bumpy, some even made me feel a little sick, some were exciting and pleasurable and sometimes you just get leaves hitting you in the face. Whatever the experience, I just went with it.

Some may say, but if I saw that bump in the road (read: problem, obstacle), then I would be prepared for it. That’s true, but if the bump is there and you can’t avoid it, you’re going to experience it either way, so why spend time worrying about it BEFORE it even happens? Why not spend that time doing something fun instead?

Life is just like a bike ride. Sometimes you’re driving yourself, but other times it’s nice to let the Universe drive you for a bit.