Joy In The Moment
Worry and “What Ifs” Are a Waste of Time!
By Joy Pape, FNP-C, CDCES, CFCN
Mary Oliver’s poem, I Worried, reminds me of a Joy in the Moment article I wrote about two years ago. I wrote about how worrying and “what ifs” rob us of feeling good in the moment. Here are some excerpts from that article.
Worry isn’t about what has happened in the past but rather about what may happen in the future. This keeps us from enjoying or having peace and joy in the moment because, once again, what we’re feeling, we’re feeling now. We don’t know the future. Mark Twain said it well: “I’ve had a lot of worries in my life, most of which never happened.”
A great example for me is when I once had a job I loved. A new director came on board and I received a call from her, mid-week. She wanted to meet Tuesday of the next week. I worried and worried about why she was calling this meeting. Was she going to fire me? Where would I find another job I’d enjoy so much? How was I going to pay my expenses? These thoughts went on and on during most all my waking moments of the week. They even robbed me of my sleep. Tuesday came, I showed up at the meeting. The new director told me she had seen and heard of my work and wanted to give me a raise for the great job I had done. Wow! What a lesson that was!
Worry is a waste of time. There is nothing we can do NOW about what may or may not happen in the future. This does not mean we shouldn’t plan for the future, understanding we’re not exactly sure how it will turn out, but be here now and enjoy the peace joy in the moment.
Joy Pape, FNP-CDCES, CFCN is a board-certified nurse practitioner who believes in and practices wholistic health and healing. She practices at the Comprehensive Weight Control Center at Weill Cornell Medicine. She also has a private practice located in the West Village.
I Worried
By Mary Oliver
I worried a lot. Will the garden grow, will the rivers
flow in the right direction, will the earth turn
as it was taught, and if not how shall
I correct it?
Was I right, was I wrong, will I be forgiven,
can I do better?
Will I ever be able to sing, even the sparrows
can do it and I am, well,
hopeless.
Is my eyesight fading or am I just imagining it,
am I going to get rheumatism,
lockjaw, dementia?
Finally, I saw that worrying had come to nothing.
And gave it up. And took my old body
and went out into the morning,
and sang.
