Nothing will prevent effective work like worry. If you are given to
introspection and worry, and allow these things to go unchecked, they
become habits with you, and while your sleep, in a measure, is an
antidote for worry, yet the more worry you have the less soundly you
will sleep, and consequently the less effective sleep will be in
correcting the injury caused by worry.
Sunshine and darkness cannot be present at the same time, for in nature
one of the first rules we find is that no two objects can occupy the
same place at the same time. No matter how much one is given to the
worry habit, he experiences reflex moments when he does not worry. Some
of our pessimistic friends who are given to the worry habit say it is
impossible for them not to worry. You are thinking of what you are
reading, and if your mind is interested in it you are not worrying
while you are reading these articles, and this shows that if you are
interested in reading there is little chance for worry to get in; for
your mind is occupied.
Men have tried all sorts of things to escape worry. Some of them
frequent places where gaiety and mirth abound, so that they are for the
time being banishing worry, but in proportion as these things keep one
from worrying, the reaction is stronger when it does come, and the
individual who tries to escape worry by going the pace and occupying
his time with light things, suffers more keenly from worry when it does
come. Some men turn to drink to kill worry. Many a man imagines while
he is drunk and his brain is clogged with alcohol that he is the
happiest man in the world, and some of them go to the extent of
imagining their finances are in a flourishing condition. The alcohol
fills the brain with fancy pictures, and for the time being the mind
forgets to worry. When the alcohol wears away the brain takes up the
worry again in an increased degree.
To kill worry by the active process is like trying to cure rheumatism
by external application. The only thing you do is to stop the pain
temporarily. The best way to cure rheumatism is to go at it through the
blood. Eradicate the uric acid from the system, and then the rheumatism
will disappear. The best way to cure worry is not by local
applications, but by getting at the root of things. Eliminate as far as
possible the things which cause worry. Remember that as long as you
live there will come things across your path that are not to your
liking. You should be philosophical, and make the best of things that
are about you. Look at the bright side rather than the dark.
There are only two things in the world to worry about. First--the
things we can control or change; second, the things over which we have
no control. Now, it is manifestly useless to worry over the first kind;
for we can correct the thing and there will be nothing to worry about.
It is manifestly useless to worry over the things we cannot control,
for, as set down in the second proposition, we cannot change the
things. It therefore behooves us to eliminate from our calculations the
second kind of worry, for no amount of worry can possibly change that
kind. We must therefore confine our attention to the first kind, the
kind we can change, and when we have changed the thing there is no
cause to worry.
Nothing helps a man's health so much as contrasts in climate or habits.
When the doctor tells you it is necessary to go to California or
Arizona, or some other distant point, he knows that fifty per cent. of
the good you will get by the change is from the water, air, sunshine
and surroundings, and the other fifty per cent. of the good you will
get is because you have been taken away from the very things that have
been causing you worry. If you can't get contrasts by trips to other
distant points, you can get the contrasts right where you live. If your
mind is occupied in the day with deep thinking and hard business
problems, you should occupy your evening with something that will
contrast with it. Take up some light literature, play with your
children, or work at some hobby in which you are interested.
The trouble with those who worry most is that they have worked
themselves up to such a frenzied state they can't read anything
excepting startling newspaper articles and freakish, frothy books.
The man with rheumatism cannot cure himself in a day, neither can the
man with the worry habit eradicate worry from his make-up in a day or
so.
The man who worries should make up his mind he is going to read and get
interested in the reading. Let him set apart ten minutes the first day,
and agree that he will devote those ten minutes honestly, intently to
the subject before him. The next day he can add a minute or two, and so
on until he can read one or two hours at a time. Finally, the wrinkles
will be ironed out and the horizon will be brightened.
As we are, so is the world to us. The most familiar objects change
their aspect with every change of the soul. When you worry, everything
is distorted, everything appears unnatural, the world looks dark, our
friends seem far off. The jokes we hear fall flat. We indulge ourselves
in pessimism.
When the whole matter is summed up philosophically, there is no bad
luck in the world except sickness. All other so-called hard luck is
simply temporary. If you lose your money, don't worry about it, make
some more. If you lose a friend, don't worry; show him his mistake. If
you lose an opportunity, do not worry; be ready for the next one.
Life is short. The end of life is death. What's the use of worrying.
Worry is like drink. The more you give it the more it fastens on you.
Cultivate a cheerful disposition. Mix with people who are cheerful. Do
not allow the garden of your mind to grow up with worry weeds.
Occupation kills worry. If your mind is filled with uplifting work or
brain training it will have little time to worry.