"Worrying is like paying a debt you don't owe."
-Mark Twain
I would like to speak about two consequences of worry. What happens metaphysically when we worry? And what happens physically when we worry?
What happens beyond the physical? Psychologically, our mind begins to dwell on a thought pattern. This pattern is about something that is not happening right now. It's either something in the past or something that may never occur.
The third tenet taught at Unity says basically: thoughts held in mind produce after their kind. By this sustained thinking about something troubling that is not happening we are attracting more of what we are worried about into our life experience.
By worrying we are paying a debt we don't owe. We are attracting into our experience of life more of whatever we are worried about.
What is happening physically when we worry? Our bodies respond to our troubled thoughts. Notice your body when you find yourself worrying. Does it feel like it feels when you are afraid or anxious? Probably.
As a response to these feelings our body gets ready to either fight off the danger or run from the danger. Our body begins to shift any available energy to our large muscle groups like our legs and our arms. Where does this energy come from? It comes from our brain, our auto-immune system, and/or our digestion.
If the danger, the thing we are worried about, isn't even happening, what are we doing to ourselves? We are starving the most important systems for our bodies necessary for our health in order to prepare ourselves to counter a danger that doesn't exist.
So you can see how Mark Twain is right. We are paying a debt we don't even owe when we are in a state of worry.
Don't worry, feel joyful!