Why Worry! Put it on a Shelf!

I came across some quotes recently that suggested that people spend too much of their time worrying.

Here are a few of them:
If I had my life to live over, I would perhaps have more actual troubles but I'd have fewer imaginary ones.
~Don Herold

Drag your thoughts away from your troubles... by the ears, by the heels, or any other way you can manage it.
~Mark Twain

Today is the tomorrow we worried about yesterday.
~Author Unknown

Let us be of good cheer, remembering that the misfortunes hardest to bear are those which will never happen.
~James Russel Lowell

If things go wrong, don't go with them.
~Roger Babson

Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow, it only saps today of its joy.
~Leo Buscaglia

Do not anticipate trouble or worry about what may never happen.� Keep in the sunlight.
~Benjamin Franklin

If you can't sleep, then get up and do something instead of lying there worrying.� It's the worry that gets you, not the lack of sleep.
~Dale Carnegie

So why do people worry? Is it because of fear, lack of money, lack of relationships, guilt, bad decisions, maybe even a good decision! I don�t know but I do suspect that we worry about too primary areas: first, we worry about things that have happened in the past; secondly, we worry about things that could happen in the future. Even though we cannot change anything that has happened in the past – we worry. Failing that, we choose to worry about some unknown event in the future that may not ever happen. The bottom line in worry is that we cannot change the past and should not fear the future. The word fear can be an F.E.A.R. acronym meaning “False Events Appearing Real”. The past leads to feelings of guilt and the future leads to feelings of fear that can both immobilize an individual from living in the present.

The solution to worry is to live in the present. I compartmentalize those things that cannot be changed or that don�t need to be attended to immediately and �put them on a shelf� and leave them there until I choose to retrieve them. If you can�t find a mental shelf, then use a mental box! The important thing is to place these worries in a place that cannot affect your present day activities. Personally, I find the Serenity Prayer a helpful tool to do this. It is repeated below. Please refer to it often!

God, Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. Amen.

              - By Don Doherty, MA, Ed.S.

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