Worry is Preposterous
I want you to find a quiet place, relax your mind and hold this idea in your mind. In 100 years time, you will be dead. The only remnants of your existence will be hazy memories from your kids or grandchildren. And if you decide not to have kids, then even the idea of your existence will be completely oblivious to the world.
The world will still turn, people will still continue to have babies and people will continue to enjoy their time on earth. This is a powerful picture to hold in your mind, because it will show you how precious and limited your time is on the earth.
There will never be a human being like you to ever walk on this planet. You are in every part of your existence a unique, serendipitous creation by nature. You are a hero by the virtue of being alive.
From a water breathing creature in the amniotic fluid of your mothers womb, transforming into an air breathing creature. You are a special creation despite all the odds going against you for surviving and being in the world.
This should mean something to you, that you are the centre of the universe and that heaven is right where you stand, nowhere else. If you spend most of your days worried about what others think of you or constantly anxious about the future. Then perhaps these simple words might help you “You don’t know enough to worry.”
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There is an Ancient Daoist called “Wei Boyang” who said, “Worry is preposterous; we don’t know enough to worry.” , The fact of the matter is that the universe is far too complex for you to worry about things which could possibly go wrong. Just do your work, earn your salary and pay your taxes. The rest is out of your hands, let the hands of fate deal with it.
Worry in many ways is betting against yourself, it’s a type of self-sabotage which destroys our peace of mind. It robs us of precious energy which we could use in other areas of of our life. Yet we constantly find ourselves in this perpetual loop of always worrying about things we have absolutely no control over.
So I guess the big question is how do we get rid of this overzealous monkey causing havoc in our lives?
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Well the simple answer is that we don’t, worry is actually a natural and sometimes necessary emotion in our lives. It serves as a protective mechanism that helps us anticipate and prepare for potential problems or challenges.
Imagine if you had absolutely no worries in the world, you’d get run over by a bus while crossing the street. Worry is effective in small, intermittent doses. However, when we spend each waking hour worrying about every single thing under the sun we turn our lives into a living hell.
To be human is to worry, our very existence brings fourth a subconscious anxiety which is constantly with us, this stems from death. Humans are the only creatures who know that one day they will die.
Animals don’t suffer from this sobering reality, their existence is focused on the present. They have no concept of the future, their cognitive ability is limited to immediate tasks within space and time.
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The human brain is our greatest gift, it gives us the opportunity to explore and learn extensively about the world and shape it according to our desires. But it also brings us misery, since it is able to exist in the realm of the Past, Present, and Future.
Our inability to be present is the cause of worry, the past weighs us down with regret and the future makes us anxious due to our inability to control it.
There has never been a time on earth whereby humans with a flick of a finger can turn on their smartphones while eating breakfast to see an acquaintance driving a Ferrari at his Villa on the South Coast of Italy. Your favourite celebrity sitting in their brand new Bugatti. An earthquake where thousands of people die, war, famine; The list is endless.
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This is what we are exposed to in a matter of minutes. A plethora of information, pulling at every string of our emotions.
Social Media has transformed the way human beings interact, it has its positive side but unfortunately it carries more destructive negatives. The greatest danger of Social Networks is that it pulls us away from “Being Present” it’s a constant distraction from life. It’s one thing to be aware of what is going on in the world, it’s another thing to be alerted every second about the horrors occurring in the world.
Photo by mauro mora on Unsplash
Worry is something we as Modern Beings have to learn to manage, we are living in the age of anxiety. We are exposed to too many negative things and this does something to our perspective on life. It creates a cloud of pessimism towards the world, this is extremely dangerous for kids who are beginning to form a perspective of the world.
My only solution to this unique problem is Digital Minimalism, spending our free time away from the glaring lights of technology and into the sacred bosom of Nature. Hiking, swimming, Playing Sports anything which can get the mind out of it’s thinking state. Thats where the nourishing benefits of life are, away from the noise of technology.
As for dealing with the anxiety of your eventual death, well… I’ll leave you with wise words from Woody Allen, “I’m not afraid of death, I just don't want to be there when it happens.”
