How Not To Worry: A 1934 Guide To Mastering Life

[AB Editor]

How Not To Worry: A 1934 Guide to Mastering Life

http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2013/03/18/you-can-master-life-1934/

"On studying his chronic fears this man found they fell into five fairly distinct classifications:

1.Worries about disasters which, as later events proved, never happened. About 40% of my anxieties.
2.Worries about decisions I had made in the past, decisions about which I could now of course do nothing. About 30% of my anxieties.
3.Worries about possible sickness and a possible nervous breakdown, neither of which materialized. About 12% of my worries.
4.Worries about my children and my friends, worries arising from the fact I forgot these people have an ordinary amount of common sense. About 10% of my worries.
5.Worries that have a real foundation. Possibly 8% of the total."

What, of this man, is the first step in the conquest of anxiety? It is to limit his worrying to the few perils in his fifth group. This simple act will eliminate 92% of his fears. Or, to figure the matter differently, it will leave him free from worry 92% of the time."

Struck a chord with me :)

[ludwig]

It's worrying that we waste so much time worrying. In 1934 I wonder if the 8% of his worries with real foundation included the rise of national socialism in Germany and the possibility of war.

[woofgang]

I reckon that for people who worry, this will just mean that they spend all their "worry time" worrying about less topics!

[wildwood]

It is a worry that we have to worry about worrying too much, as it is a total waste of time and energy. I believe it is a by-product of our inquisitive mind that sets us so far apart from other animals.

[AB Editor]

"I wonder if the 8% of his worries with real foundation included the rise of national socialism in Germany and the possibility of war"

Maybe that would have actually started off as a "no.1" and quickly became a "no.5"!