When worried, pray for peace.
July 11, 1988
There is a difference between worry and prayer. You can worry about yourself in the absence of prayer. In the company of prayer, the worry is no longer present and is supplemented by a strengthening of your own spiritual being. If you are worried about yourself and yet think not of others, the worry expands and fills up a vacuum as it were, pushing away the positive energy coming from prayer and reducing the influence of that energy. If you are worried about yourself, pray for peace. The worry will dissipate. If you worry about yourself and do not pray, the worry controls everything.
If you worry about another, that worry becomes a negative force, a negative energy, which affects both you and the other for whom you worry. There is no way that a reaction of worry or concern about another which is negative can benefit anyone. If worry is changed into compassionate concern, the compassionate feeling is a positive, supportive feeling, not a fretful one, and that supportive energy will benefit the other immediately and recognizably.
