I loved the idea of living by delight vs. worry. A good reminder.
Karin
My friend's daughter wanted an "A" in algebra. And because her teacher had a schoolwide reputation for being tough, she knew it was going to be a struggle.
Night after night, my friend and her husband watched their eighth-grader struggle with her math homework. They listened to her practice the powers of 10 and, amazed, saw her studying diligently for tests. This was serious business, no question about it.
One day, my friend walked in on her daughter smiling beatifically from the couch.
"Hey, what's going on?" she asked. "You sure look happy."
Her daughter smiled up at her. "I'm practicing delight," she said.
My friend was baffled. Was this the religious practice of some cult? A theater exercise? Some misunderstanding of a class assignment? "What do you mean?" she finally asked.
Her daughter continued to smile. "This is the way I'm going to look when Ms. B. tells me I got an A in algebra. I'm practicing delight."
My friend was charmed, as was I when she told me this story. How often, I thought, do I practice the opposite of what this young girl chose? By worrying, or what one good friend calls "catastrophizing" – imagining the worst. By rationalizing my anticipated failures or disappointments, making excuses for my record in advance of its actuality, I practice despair, disappointment, and sorrow.
How much more fun to practice delight. At worst, we would lift our spirits for a time. At best, we might master the face of joy.
If it isn't a religious practice, it ought to be! Susi Gregg Fowler in The Christian Science Monitor
Related posts:
- Living life in the moment If we could only find the courage to leave our destiny to chance, to accept the fundamental mystery of our lives, then we might be...
- Living with things of beauty Whether people are fully conscious of this or not, they actually derive countenance and sustenance from the 'atmosphere' of the things they live in and...
- The Living Desert You will find a slide show of The Living Desert here by the same man who did the slide show of national parks that I...
- Living by song titles or lyrics It's raining here and very dark...yesterday it was so sunny I had to hold my hand in front of my face in order to see...
- Life as a train wreck A friend of mine wrote the following about her week last week, and I could identify with her: I have had a very disconcerting and...
