Don't Be Your Own Enemy

"Beasts avoid the dangers which they see, and when they have escaped them are free from care; but we men torment ourselves over that which is to come as well as over that which is past. Many of our blessings bring bane to us; for memory recalls the tortures of fear, while foresight anticipates them. The present alone can make no man wretched." (Seneca, Letters, 5 "On The Philosopher's Mean")

Our minds are busy. Most of what occupies our minds are out of our control, matters that lie in the past or have yet to occur in the future. If those things were not bothersome enough, we also manage to be distracted by shiny things, with small things that really don't matter, things that keep us from what is most important.

Animals have sense enough to flee from harm and man is no animal. So why do we create traps only to knowingly step into them? By focusing on what's already gone or on what has yet to come, we lose the blessings of the present.

Worry is the way we rob ourselves of strength. It accomplishes nothing, changes nothing. Make up your mind as to how abundant your life is now, in the present. Let tomorrow take care of itself.

 "Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?  Therefore do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble." [Mat 6:25-34 ESV]