How many of you woke up this morning worried: worried about the day ahead, the week ahead, the problems you might face, the difficulties you may have to go through? Show of hands? Anyone?
*Hand raised* I know I woke up this way. In addition to the stack of obligations in front of me for the day, I am also carrying around the weight of big life decisions: Do G and I move? Do we not move? If we move, where do we go? If we don’t move, how do we stay (and thrive)? Up and down I went last night on this seesaw, and this morning I woke up as stable as that teeter-totter.
However, sitting outside an hour later, sipping my morning cup of tea, it came to me:
“Don’t worry ’bout a thing,
‘Cause every little thing gonna be alright.”
Bob Marley’s “Three Little Birds” came flitting into my mind, fluttering away some of the tortuous thoughts. “Don’t worry about a thing” the little birds chirped. Hmmm. That’s much simpler advice to follow than, “Sit here and try to solve all of the week’s problems, both real and imaginary, before you get out of your pajamas.”
“Every little thing gonna be alright.” Is it? Really? How do you know? How do I know?
Well, I don’t. But neither do I know that all of these future scenarios that I’m torturing myself with are going to play out either. Last time I checked, I am still not psychic. Not even close. All of these thoughts I’m having aren’t even about real problems yet. Only imaginary ones. So if I can fret that everything could turn out for the worse, maybe I can turn it around and use the same amount of energy to be confident that everything can turn out for the better. And maybe you can too.
Did you know what worry really means? It literally means to wrangle and strangle something to death in the same manner that a wild animal rips into its prey. Any ideas, then, about what’s happening when we’re worrying?
We think we’re wrangling and strangling a problem to death but, truth be told, it’s the other way around. We’re the ones being vexed and tortured. We’re the ones suffering the ripping and shredding of worry’s teeth. And the worst thing of all about it is we’re the ones doing this to ourselves!
I am not going to sit here today and try to give you advice on how not to worry. That is another post for another day, a day when I perhaps am feeling more sage in my own not-worrying abilities.
What I will tell you is this: Each day has enough cares of its own. And, as far as I know, we cannot yet project ourselves into the future and deal with its cares first, which means that we can only take care of the needs of today, in the order that they arise.
I challenge you, as I challenge myself today, to try to stay as present in your present as you can. Take today as it comes. Deal with each need only as that need arises. Let your focus be in the here and now. And when your thoughts do stray to the future, remind yourself that “Every little thing’s gonna be alright.”
I have the sneaking suspicion that if we do so, you and I both will find ourselves at the end of today far more peaceful than we may have been otherwise. And far more confident that tomorrow is within our grasp, as well.
As James Russell Lowell says:
Let us be of good cheer, remembering that the misfortunes hardest to bear are those which will never happen.
What about you?
How do you approach your worries when you have them?
What calms you when you feel stressed about the future?
I look forward to hearing from you.
Peace be with you today.
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