Don’t worry, be happy
By R.C. Sharma

"WORRY", said the great Charles Mayo, "affects the circulation, the heart, the glands, the whole nervous system. I have never known a man who died of overwork, but many who died from worry. Worry is a thin stream of fear, trickling through the mind."

It is , therefore, essential to take concerted and consistent measures to ensure a tranquil life, free from worry and stress. Such a life has been enjoined by Dale Carnegie, the celebrated American author of the best-seller, How to Make Friends and Influence People. His characteristic piece of advice, "The best things in life are yours, if you can appreciate yourself. That’s the way to ‘stop worrying and start living’."

One has to be a do-gooder, a Good Samaritan to remain calm in any adversity. No lily sits on the brow of such persons. This altruism generates happiness just as knowledge in creases by sharing it with others. Hence, the message for the introvert is: Come out from your cocoon, take an active interest in the affairs of others. Read your Dale Carnegie again for excellent illustrations he has given.

Develop a sense of humour — tone it to perfection if it is already there. It is happiness that keeps one fit. Happiness and joy come as we think. The pessimist sees the glass as half-empty, while the optimist sees it as half-full.

We need not be fettered by circumstances or environment. We can break through our prison house by the creative genius of our mind. We need not walk the dark and dreary lane of humdrum living. An awakened mind can set us on the high way, to a richer andheathier life. Human beings and nature are the greatest miracles. Does not a fragrance-giving rose inspire us to smile and be happy?

Worries start confronting us from childhood itself. But we should remember that joy and sorrow, pleasure and pain, worry and happiness are part and parcel of life. Therefore, we must fight worries, pain, sorrows and sufferings with will-power. To sit back and curse does not help our fate. We are the makers of our own fate. Every problem has a solution. There is nothing impossible in this world. Napoleon used to say that the word’ impossible’ is found in the dictionary of fools.

Happiness is something we create within ourselves. It is a state of mind, say psychologists, and includes our background, habits, education and experience. We are not born happy. We are in this world in order to better ourselves. A cheerful person is always welcomed by others. He radiates happiness and joy, and creates a blissful aura around him.

Life is a strange web of joy and sorrow. The man who always looks at the bitter side of life and is drowned in worries can never make himself happy. Happiness is the main thing which all of us strive for. To some people life is only an empty dream, others see it as a burden of duties and worries. Both these types make their lives miserable.

To roam in the world of imagination is a pleasure. Therefore, imaginative persons who see life as a medal having two faces — joyful and sorrowful — are better equipped to endure human existence. Why should life be all labour? Why should life be all pains, worries and sorrows?

"If you laugh, the whole world laughs with you, but if you weep, you weep alone." You may laugh in order to set at ease your pent-up emotions and to kill your worries. People who suffer from high blood pressure occasionally need a treatment of laughter. "Take things easy", says the doctor. The pressure on your heart may be already too great. Therefore, laugh and let out the steam, banishing the worries.

Dr Frank Rudolph Young, author of Yoga Secrets for Extraordinary Health and Long Life, has given us a very good formula to banish anxieties. He states: "My research, both on myself and on many people for nearly 45 years, has proved to me that exercise if not done excessively reduces anxiety. The powerful muscle contractions which you make in violent exercise rid your body fastest of anxiety for about 24 hours. That’s why the person with a speech impediment, like stuttering and stammering, speaks most fluently for hours after engaging in violent exercise which does not exhaust him (if it exhausts him, his speech worsens).

"The same principle applies to you. Run away from your anxiety by sprinting at top speed for a short distance. Stop before exhausting yourself and walk about two to three times the same distance before sprinting again. After four or five such sprints and walks, return home and do your favourite yoga asanas. Do only your favourite ones, so as to feel thoroughly liberated. The moment you feel bored, exercise no more that day. Rest on your back, then, for an half hour. That’s how to relieve your anxieties with your muscles."

"Good company, excellent books, and prayers — these three make a man monarch of the three worlds", says Swami Ram Tirth. Music eliminates worries. It is the food of life. But don’t take alcohol or drugs to drown your worries. For some time, under the influence of drugs and alcohol, you may forget your worries but when the influence has gone, worries will attack you more fiercely and shatter your body.

"Banish worries, be happy and spread happiness", should be your motto in life. You must remember that worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow, it only saps your energy for today.