Chapter 7 Chapter Two Be Your Own Savior

Do think about the future - yes, do think, plan and prepare carefully, but don't worry. The best way to prepare for tomorrow is to concentrate all your wisdom and enthusiasm on doing today's work perfectly. This is the only way you can cope with the future. In the spring of 1871, a young man picked up a book and read a sentence that would affect his future life.A medical student at Montreal General Hospital, his life was filled with worries: "How do I pass my final exam? What do I have to do? Where do I go? How do I open a clinic? How do I live better? " The words the young medical student read in 1871 made him famous as a good doctor at the time.He founded the world-renowned Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, became King's Professor of Medicine at the University of Oxford - the highest honor available to medicine in the British Empire - and was knighted by the King.After his death, two volumes of 1466 pages were collected to tell his legendary life.

This man was Sir William Oursler. The words he saw in the spring of 1871 helped him live a carefree life.This sentence is: "Above all, do not look at things that are blurred in the distance, but do what is clear at hand." This is a passage from the book written by the Scottish historian Thomas Carlyle. Forty-two years later, on a warm spring evening, when tulips were blooming on campus, Sir William Osler gave a speech to the students of Yale University.He said to the students of Yale University: "A person like me who has been a professor in four universities and written a popular bestseller may seem to others to have extraordinary intelligence, but he is not. .” He revealed that some of his good friends knew that he was actually mediocre.

So what is the secret of his success?He credits it all to "living in today's grid". "A completely independent today", what does this sentence mean?A few months before he went to speak at Yale, he had sailed across the Atlantic on a large ocean liner.He noticed that the captain stood in the cockpit and pressed a button. After a sound of machinery running, several parts of the ship were immediately separated from each other-separated into several watertight compartments.Dr. Osler said to those Yale students: "Every one of you here has an organism that is much more sophisticated than a ship and has a farther voyage. I would like to advise you that you should also learn to control everything in your own Only by adhering to "living in today's grid" can we ensure safety during navigation.In the cockpit, you'll find those large compartments all serving a purpose.Press a button, watch every aspect of your life, shut off the past with iron gates - from yesterdays that are gone Press another button, shut off the future with iron gates - from tomorrows that have not yet been born .Then you are safe - you have all of today, cut off from the past!Bury the past that is gone, cut off the yesterdays that lead fools to death.Tomorrow's burden plus yesterday's load must be carried together today, and no matter how strong a person is, he will be timid.Shut the future as tightly as the past.The future lies in today, there is no so-called tomorrow, and the salvation of mankind is now.Wasting energy and worrying about the future all day can only drag yourself down.Then, close the hatch tightly!Get ready to develop a good habit of "living in today's square".

Is Dr. Osler advocating that people should not try to prepare for tomorrow?No, absolutely not.In that speech, he went on to say: "Concentrate all your wisdom, gather all your enthusiasm, and do today's work to perfection. This is the best way for you to meet the future." Sir Osler encourages Yale students to pray as the day dawns: "Give me my bread for the day." Remember, this prayer simply asks for today's bread, and does not complain about the sourdough bread we ate yesterday, nor does it say, "Oh Lord! The wheat is dry in the wheat field, and we may meet again Drought. Then shall we have bread next year? Or, if I lose my job, oh Lord! what shall I eat then?"

This prayer tells us that we can only ask for today's bread, and only today's bread can we eat. A long time ago, there was a penniless philosopher who wandered into a barren village where people lived a very hard life.One day, a large group of people gathered around him on the top of the mountain to listen to his lecture.That's when he uttered perhaps the most quoted quote of all time.There are only 29 words in this philosophical sentence, but it has been passed down from generation to generation for centuries: "Don't worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will have its own troubles, and one day's difficulties are enough for one day."

Many people disagree with the wise saying "Don't worry about tomorrow".These people regard it as a kind of superfluous advice, thinking that it is just a dogma with oriental mysticism, and they are too resigned to their fate, and they still refuse to believe it.They said: "I must think about tomorrow, I must buy insurance to ensure the life of my family; I must save money for the needs of old age, I must plan and prepare for the future." Yes, all this must of course be done.In fact, the translation of Jesus’ words more than 300 years ago is still different from what people understand today.The word worry now has a very different meaning than it did in the Jacobite days. More than 300 years ago, the word worry usually also meant anxiety.The new translation of the "Bible" translates this sentence of Jesus more accurately: "Don't be anxious about tomorrow."

What is shocking is that more than half of the patients currently living in the hospital are hospitalized for diseases caused by mental problems. They are overwhelmed by the burden of yesterday and the fear of tomorrow.In fact, most of them don't need to be hospitalized at all. As long as they can remember Jesus' words "don't worry about tomorrow", or can remember Sir Osler's words "live in today's square", they will all be able to survive. I can walk the streets without any worries and live a happy and meaningful life. At this moment, you and I stand at the meeting point of two eternities, the indelible past and the endless future.But we cannot live between these two eternities, not even for a second.If you try to force that, it will only destroy your physical and mental health.That being the case, let us be content to live in this moment, from now until the moment we go to bed.Robert Stevenson said: "No matter how heavy a burden is, a man can carry it till night falls. No matter how hard the work is, a man can get it done. If a man can go through each day like this, Then he will live sweetly, patiently and earnestly, with a pure and noble heart. In fact, this is the true meaning of life."

In short, try to make a thorough plan for tomorrow, but don't worry about tomorrow.