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Today's
Meditation:
Winston may be quoting Mark Twain, who is attributed
with a quotation on this topic, or he may be quoting
someone else-- and Twain said the same thing and had his
name stuck to the idea. Either way, it doesn't
matter, for the thought here is one that's valuable to us
as a life lesson from those who have lived before us and
who are trying to pass on their wisdom to us in the hopes
that we don't make the same mistakes they do.
We cause so much of our own stress that's it's almost
comical, and if this tendency didn't cause so much pain
and heartache, then we could call it laughable. How
many relationships wouldn't have broken up, how many kids
would have been treated better, how many nights would we
have slept more soundly if only we had been able to
remember that those things that we're worrying about more
than likely won't turn out in the worst possible way?
We do tend to think the worst. If we're in financial
trouble, we worry about what will happen when we have no
money at all. To think about that possibility is
definitely natural, but to worry about it is something
else altogether. Worry won't change our finances--
only action and planning and watching our
spending will do so. And I've known quite a few
people who have lost their jobs and worried about the
future only to have things turn out better than they were
before. The worrying that they did was useless, and
it only caused them and their loved ones a significant
amount of stress in their lives.
Think about things that are going wrong. Think about
possible problems in the future-- but avoid worrying about
them. Plan for them and do your best to avoid them,
but don't worry about them unless you truly enjoy
stressing yourself out and making yourself
miserable. I know that it's easier said than done,
but with practice it is possible to catch worry as soon as
it rears its head and banish it, telling ourselves,
"Things will turn out fine, even if I have to pass
through a bad stretch, and worrying doesn't do a bit of
good." Then we can get back to focusing on our
families, our jobs, and our enjoyments, and doing our best
to ensure that the worst-case scenario about which we're
worrying doesn't come to pass.
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