by Daphne Golden

Created on: February 11, 2009   Last Updated: June 29, 2009

As human beings, we have instincts that prompt us to prepare for the future. We need to know that we have shelter, food, and other basic necessities for daily living. While it's natural to make preparations, it's unnatural for us to consume ourselves with worry about things that we have no control over. Why, then, do we put so much undue stress on ourselves by playing tomorrow out in our minds?

Our overwhelming self-interest drives us to want life to be completely comfortable, completely satisfactory by our own standards. We want what we want when we want it, and we are fearful of something not fitting into the mold we create in our mind that we think will make life perfect. We look so far into the "big picture" that we often fail to see what the big picture really is.

Letting go and learning to appreciate what is right in front of us at the present moment, we learn to lose the fear that drives us to such anxiety. Appreciating the moment of playing in the park on a beautiful day with one's four year old child takes away the power of worrying about that child having a car accident when they are a newly licensed driver. Enjoying a cup of coffee at the kitchen table while watching a beautiful sunrise takes the power away from the fear of losing that comfortable home because of a bad economy. Simplicity is something that is so easily forgotten in today's world of hustle and bustle. When we pause and take the time to really relish each individual moment for what it is, we don't have room in our mind for worry.

In actuality, most of what we worry about never happens. How rarely do we put expectations on a situation and have things turn out exactly as we thought they would? Not putting expectations on tomorrow removes the possibility for us to be let down. We can have hopes and dreams without expecting life to deal us the perfect hand. Faith helps tremendously in this circumstance. If we trust that our higher power has our best interest in mind, it becomes easier to let go of our self-will and know that our needs will be met.

Problems are going to arise in life. That is just the nature of being human. We can learn to deal with each problem as it arises, instead of bringing tomorrow's problems into today. We don't worry about yesterday's problems, because those have been solved. Why, then worry about what has not happened yet? We can choose to trust that as each problem arises, we will be guided to a solution, as we have been in the past. In doing so, we open our hearts and minds to all the joy that each moment brings as it happens. We alleviate the stress and anxiety that robs us of the happiness we have been given TODAY.

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