MIND NEEDS SOMETHING TO WORRY ABOUT, ALL THE TIME...

Pic.:  Ganesh Waran

“Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow...

It only saps today of its joy.”

- Leo Buscaglia

If I didn't worry about my future – what may happen tomorrow – I would not have understood what worry does to another soul. Yes, I have worried enough in my life, and, I still do.

And, let me tell you this: My incessant worrying about my future hasn't changed my future at all... What had to happen, has happened... What had to come to pass, has come to pass!

Then, why do I still worry about my future?

Like:

What if my health fails and I am unable to teach, earn my living, tomorrow?

What if something happens to my wife, my only son - his job, his health and so on?

What if I am unable to come out of my debt?

What if the technology changes (and, I know very well, it does!) and I am unable to cope with it?

What if my savings tank?

What if someone, who is hell-bent to destroy my reputation, goes on a witch-hunt?

What if there are no buyers to my product, tomorrow?

What if my friends desert me? Relatives keep distance from me?

What if that happens and what if this happens... What if... What if?

I know, it is all in my weak mind... My mind makes up those horror-stories and gets scared inside... And, eventually, despite getting so worked-up and weighed-down by all this, what has to happen, happens... and, my life still goes on...

I survive...

But, along with me, my worries survive, too!

So, I worry enough... And, I will continue to do so as long as my mind remains weak...

Last evening, Ramesh, a student who had graduated about twenty years ago, had come to me to with his problem. Well, it was not the first time, though... He is a chronic worrier and he does come to me, now and then, when weighed down with his worries...

What had Ramesh brought to me, last evening?

His fear that his computer-programming skills might not be enough to cope with the fast-changing technology!

So simple a problem?

Let him learn new skills; let him change with the technology... Simple!

But, if you are a chronic worrier, like Ramesh, you just need to open your skull in order to witness the worry-web that has been created inside... What if? What if? What if? What if? What if?... Yes, you will not know where to begin and where to end... You will go on and on, there, in circles!

Mind needs something to worry about, all the time... just like dog needing a bone to chew on and on... Though the dead-bone breaks his teeth, wastes his time and makes him wage war with other dogs over it, our dog will not give up on his desperate pursuit...

Yes, unless our dog sees the virtue in letting go of the juice-less bone and letting in something that can actually nourish him...

Despite bringing the heaven and earth down, over all these two decades, Ramesh’s worrying hasn't stopped anything in his life from happening...

Nor has mine...

So, I could understand Ramesh’ problem, as they say, like the back of my hand... “Beta, you are 40 now, a husband and a father,” I said to him gently, “If you have survived this long, won’t you survive more?”

I had told him this, too: “Never ask God to give a life of uncertainty; ask Him to grant you the courage, grace and peace to live with it.”

Believe me, Ramesh went home a lot relieved, last evening...

And, I did too!

GERALD D’CUNHA