Often Our Fears and Worries Are About Nothing

Yesterday, upon the stair,

I met a man who wasn’t there!

He wasn’t there again today,

Oh how I wish he’d go away!

William Hughes Mearns

That little poem comes to me at odd times. I don’t know what Mearns meant by it, but I know the ancient psychology behind the thought.

Now, if you are walking through a meadow in Yellowstone National Park and disturb a couple of Grizzly Bear cubs, and mama comes running—well, that’s fear.

More often the fear is of people who aren’t like us who might be taking our jobs, or getting something we want, or that nameless fear that leaves us awake and worrying in the middle of the night.

But in reality, it’s like the man who wasn’t there. We keep meeting him. He won’t go away. But, he’s not there.

Most likely 99% of the things you fear and are worried about can’t happen and won’t happen. A few things you can do something about.

Do those things you can control. Put the other things out of your mind by focusing on other things. Perhaps focus on how you can be of service to others. Or how you can learn a new skill or technology. Or meet new people who live in the world of possibility, not the world of scarcity.

And you will cease to notice the man who isn’t there.

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