One of the first self-help books I read in my twenties was written by Dr. Wayne Dyer. He discussed guilt and worry as being the two most wasted emotions. He explained that guilt was about the past and worry was about things to happen in the future. Both of these emotions are out of our control unless we learn from past mistakes, rid ourselves of guilt, and take appropriate action to eliminate worry in the future.
I am a classic worrier. I worry about outliving my money, being too old to work, and being too weak to care for my home. Once I put those on the back burner, I worry about covering our funeral expenses, ending up in a nursing home, and about what’s going to happen to Quincy (Our dog) when we’re gone.
Finally, I worry about being unhealthy, not helping Michael get what’s right for him medically, and helping guide Matt to have the resources he needs.
As if these are not enough, I worry about global warming, having clean water for the future, and keeping our food supply from poisoning all of us.
Now that I’ve gotten all these worry ideas off my chest, my plan is to take life one day at a time. Opportunities need to be acted upon. They won’t be here forever. Life decisions need to be made for the public good and care needs to be taken to keep our planet clean and healthy.
Time to prioritize: #1 Live in the present, #2 Consider the public good, and #3 Apply lessons learned to better our planet. These same priorities must be applied to our personal lives and worries as well. #1 Take care of personal issues as they come up and find solutions, #2 Consider the good of all involved and include them in the decisions, #3 Use the wisdom you’ve gained in the past, and the input shared by those people involved to make decisions for the good of all concerned.
Useless emotion? Maybe. If we dwell on the worry, we’re screwed. If we focus on solutions, we might just make it.
If you ask what is the single most important key to longevity, I would have to say it is avoiding worry, stress, and tension. And if you didn’t ask me, I’d still have to say it. -George Burns
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