How to Stop Worrying and Start Living

Check yourself four or five times a day, and say to yourself: “Am I making my work harder than it actually is? Am I using muscles that have nothing to do with the work I am doing?”

Test yourself again at the end of the day, by asking yourself: “Just how tired am I? If I am tired, it is not because of the mental work I have done but because of the way I have done it.”

the best remedies for lightening worry is “talking your troubles over with someone you trust.

“When patients come here, they can talk their troubles over at length, until they get them off their minds. Brooding over worries alone, and keeping them to oneself, causes great nervous tension. We all have to share our troubles. We have to share worry. We have to feel there is someone in the world who is willing to listen and able to understand.” My

Ever since the days of Freud, analysts have known that a patient could find relief from his inner anxieties if he could talk, just talk.

So the next time we have an emotional problem, why don’t we look around for someone to talk to? I don’t mean, of course, to go around making pests of ourselves by whining and complaining to everyone in sight. Let’s decide on someone we can trust, and make an appointment. Maybe a relative, a doctor, a lawyer, a minister, or priest. Then say to that person: “I want your advice. I have a problem, and I wish you would listen while I put it in words. You may be able to advise me. You may see angles to this thing that I can’t see myself. But even if you can’t, you will help me tremendously if you will just sit and listen while I talk it out.”

Keep a notebook or scrapbook for “inspirational” reading. Into this book you can paste all the poems, or short prayers, or quotations, which appeal to you personally and give you a lift. Then, when a rainy afternoon sends your spirits plunging down, perhaps you can find a recipe in this book for dispelling the gloom.

Don’t dwell too long on the shortcomings of others! Sure, your husband has faults! If he had been a saint, he never would have married you. Right? One woman at the class who found herself developing into a scolding, nagging, and haggard-faced wife, was brought up short with the question: “What would you do if your husband died?” She was so shocked by the idea that she immediately sat down and drew up a list of all her husband’s good points. She made quite a list. Why don’t you try the same thing the next time you feel you married a tight-fisted tyrant? Maybe you’ll find, after reading his virtues, that he’s a man you’d like to meet!

Make up a schedule for tomorrow’s work before you go to bed tonight.

Finally—avoid tension and fatigue. Relax! Relax!

here are some exercises you can do in your home. Try them for a week—and see what you do for your looks and disposition! Lie flat on the floor whenever you feel tired. Stretch as tall as you can. Roll around if you want to. Do it twice a day. Close your eyes. You might try saying, as Professor Johnson recommended, something like this: “The sun is shining overhead. The sky is blue and sparkling. Nature is calm and in control of the world—and I, as nature’s child, am in tune with the Universe.” Or—better still—pray! If you cannot lie down, because the roast is in the oven and you can’t spare the time, then you can achieve almost the same effect sitting down in a chair. A hard, upright chair is the best for relaxing. Sit upright in the chair like a seated Egyptian statue, and let your hands rest, palms down, on the tops of your thighs. Now, slowly tense the toes—then let them relax. Tense the muscles in your legs—and let them relax. Do this slowly upward, with all the muscles of your body, until you get to the neck. Then let your head roll around heavily, as though it were a football. Keep saying to your muscles (as in the previous chapter): “Let go … let go...” Quiet your nerves with slow, steady breathing. Breathe from deep down. The yogis of India were right: rhythmical breathing is one of the best methods ever discovered for soothing the nerves. Think of the wrinkles and frowns in your face, and smooth them all out. Loosen up the worry-creases you feel between your brows, and at the sides of your mouth. Do this twice a day, and maybe you won’t have to go to a beauty parlour to get a massage. Maybe the lines will disappear from the inside out!

The constant reminder of “a million things to do and no time to do them” can worry you not only into tension and fatigue, but it can also worry you into high blood pressure, heart trouble, and stomach ulcers.

“where do you keep your unfinished business?” “Finished!”

Clear Your Desk of All Papers Except Those Relating
to the Immediate Problem at Hand.

Do Things in the Order of Their Importance.

“As far back as I can remember, I have got up at five o’clock in the morning because I can think better then than any other time—I can think better then and plan my day, plan to do things in the order of their importance.”

When You Face a Problem, Solve It Then and There if
You Have the Facts Necessary to Make a Decision.
Don’t Keep Putting off Decisions.

Many a businessman is driving himself to a premature grave because he has never learned to delegate responsibility to others, insists on doing everything himself. Result: details and confusion overwhelm him. He is driven by a sense of hurry, worry, anxiety, and tension.

your emotional attitude usually has far more to do with producing fatigue than has physical exertion.

“Boredom is the only real cause of diminution of work.”