Some years ago I experienced severe swelling and pain in the fingers of both hands. Even routine tasks such as tying my shoelaces and brushing my teeth became difficult. This went on for several weeks. 

During this same period, my family and I were undergoing some major changes in our living circumstances. The changes weren’t bad, but the logistics and number of details that had to be dealt with seemed formidable, and I’d been feeling anxious. I suspected that the physical problem was connected with the resistance and rigidity of my thinking about this change. But even if it wasn’t, I was tired of the anxiety and decided to address it metaphysically—something I should have done much earlier.  

Lying in bed one night, I prayed, beginning with the simple but profound truth that I was a child of God, Spirit, and, as such, was made of spiritual qualities, all of which are good and productive. As a child of God, I couldn’t feel anxious, stressed, or worried, but was instead entitled to feel—in fact, couldn’t help feeling—calm, poised, grateful, and expectant of good.