It is sometimes useful to look back at the things we worried about in our youth or at later stages in our life and make a list of all those things that we worried about which actually happened and another list of those things, which did not come about.  For most of us, the list of things that did not happen will be much longer than that of the worries that turned out to be justified. Such an exercise can help us to see the futility of worrying about things that are beyond our control. Many of us can think of a lot more bad things that happened to us, about which we never thought to worry, than disasters that came to fruition which were covered by our regular worry sessions.

Nearly two thousand years ago, Lucius Annaeus Seneca, who was considered the most brilliant thinker and writer of his time, said, "We are more often frightened than hurt: our troubles spring more often from fancy than reality." The logic of these words is ageless.  Most of us realize that excessive worry is not only futile, but also injurious to our health and the quality of our life.  Yet we continue to suffer the pain from worrying about things which are not likely to happen. Why do we do this?  Perhaps we allow our minds too much free time.  Perhaps we do not keep our minds busy enough solving current problems and making positive plans for the future.

Most of us have experienced crises in the past, during which our minds were so taxed dealing with the present situation that there was no time or mental energy left for idle worry. Why must we have a crisis in order to keep our minds so busy that we have no time for worry?  Our minds must always be employed during our waking hours.  It's not possible to just turn them off, but it is possible to have some control over the thoughts that occupy our minds.

There is only one way to do battle with negative thoughts, and that is to replace them with positive thoughts.  Since we must be thinking about something, we need to keep our minds so busy with positive thoughts that the negative thoughts just don't have the opportunity to get on the agenda. Can't we all improve the quality of our lives, and the lives of our loved ones, by doing constant battle with the fears and other negative thoughts that are trying to invade our minds?  Even though, the battle may be tough, isn't it worth the effort?                                         

Copyright 2014

TB-90—posted 06/22/2014

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