How to Stop Worrying and Start Living

Let’s not allow ourselves to be upset by small things we should despise and forget. Remember “Life is too short to be little.”

The most famous insurance company on earth—Lloyd’s of London—has made countless millions out of the tendency of everybody to worry about things that rarely happen.

‘Relax. Let’s think this out. … What are you really worrying about? Let’s examine the law of averages and see whether or not it is likely to happen.’

I decided then and there to let the law of averages do the worrying for me

“Let’s examine the record.” Let’s ask ourselves: “What are the chances, according to the law of averages, that this event I am worrying about will ever occur?”

William James. “Be willing to have it so,” he said. “Acceptance of what has happened is the first step to overcoming the consequence of any misfortune.”

circumstances alone do not make us happy or unhappy. It is the way we react to circumstances that determines our feelings.

“I wouldn’t worry if I lost every cent I have because I don’t see what is to be gained by worrying. I do the best job I possibly can; and leave the results in the laps of the gods.”

Henry Ford told me much the same thing. “When I can’t handle events,” he said, “I let them handle themselves.”

“When I am up against a tough situation, if I can do anything about it, I do it. If I can’t, I just forget it.

“There is only one way to happiness,” Epictetus taught the Romans, and that is to cease worrying about things which are beyond the power of our will.”

What will happen if we refuse to “bend like the willow” and insist on resisting like the oak? The answer is easy. We will set up a series of inner conflicts. We will be worried, tense, strained, and neurotic.

I overcame my worry and fears by forcing myself to accept an inevitable situation.

“Try to bear lightly what needs must be.”

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.

‘I put a stop-loss order on every market commitment I make. If I buy a stock at, say, fifty dollars a share, I immediately place a stop-loss order on it at forty-five.’ That means that when and if the stock should decline as much as five points below its cost, it would be sold automatically, thereby, limiting the loss to five points.

“If your commitments are intelligently made in the first place,’ the old master continued, ‘your profits will average ten, twenty-five, or even fifty points. Consequently, by limiting your losses to five points, you can be wrong more than half of the time and still make plenty of money?’ “I adopted

How I wish I had had the sense, years ago, to put stop-loss orders on my impatience, on my temper, on my desire for self-justification, on my regrets, and on all my mental and emotional strains.

I said to her; "Aunt Edith, Uncle Frank did wrong to humiliate you; but don't you honestly feel that your complaining about it almost half a century after it happened is infinitely worse than what he did?"

How much does this thing I am worrying about really matter to me? At what point shall I set a “stop-loss” order on this worry—and forget it? Exactly how much shall I pay for this whistle? Have I already paid more than it is worth?