Worry is one of the biggest energy drains around. Worries, often closely related to a sense of guilt or shame, typically run as strong background programs in our minds. While they usually run with little intentional direction from us, they drain us of a tremendous amount of energy that could be put to much better use. When you create negative mental pictures or repeat worry messages to yourself about illness, accident, failure, or weakness of any kind, it impacts your body and influences the reality you create.

Mind and body are connected, and worrying about illness wears down the body's natural defense mechanism. Remember the experience of a severe headache? Say, for instance, you wake up with it: Damn, headache!" Repeat over and over "I've got a headache!" These messages from the conscious mind create a whole range of responses that become established in the body. You are likely making your headache even worse, increasing your chances of having it all day. We've all done this. The job interview presents another clear example. You know that next Tuesday you will be meeting a prospective employer. You create a mental picture of him or her, design the office in your mind, and visualize yourself seated opposite your inquisitor. If your self-concept has suffered some harsh blows lately, you probably start worrying about your inability to answer the questions asked. You actually hear or see yourself stumbling over words, moving your hands nervously, drawing a blank. The face that looks across the desk at you is frowning, or aggressive, or smiling condescendingly. The whole experience is one of anxiety, and you will have from now until Tuesday to anticipate making a total fool of yourself. If your thinking continues in this way, that is in all likelihood what will happen. There is no magic involved. The power of your thinking has produced just what you have programmed it to produce. Your whole presence will communicate the invisible message "I'm a loser."

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