If there’s a solution to the problem, what’s the point of worrying? If there’s no solution to the problem, what’s the point of worrying?
Shantideva, 6th century Buddhist sage
“I don’t have a tattoo but if I ever get one, that’ll probably be it. What does it help to worry? Worry is a bunch of agitated thoughts that we generate. There’s another quote that I have at the very beginning of my book from The Wizard of Oz. As Dorothy and her three friends are approaching the wizard, the cowardly lion is terrified and suddenly he says: ‘Somebody pulled my tail.’ And the Tin Man says: ‘Oh, you did it yourself.’ How much do we do to ourselves? In how many different ways do we find to pull our own tails by indulging in worry, in fear, in anger. It’s a self-generating thing. It’s a thing that we impose on the situation. This doesn’t mean bury your head in the sand, it doesn’t mean to become apathetic. It means that when we drop useless worry – when we drop useless anxiety, we can see more clearly and say to our self: ‘Here’s the situation; Here’s the problem. Here’s the way I can be most effective in addressing it.’
Dean Sluyter, author of
Fear Less: Living Beyond Fear, Anxiety, Anger and Addiction
