Chapter 19 Ways to get rid of worries

Shortly before his death, Professor Philp of Yale University, I had an afternoon of talking with him.Here are his 5 ways to get rid of worries, which I jotted down during that session. method one: When I was 24 years old, my eyesight suddenly became very poor.Within three or four minutes of reading, my eyes feel as if they are full of needles. Even when I am not reading, my eyes are very sensitive, and I dare not even face the window.I went to the best ophthalmologists in New Haven and New York City, but with little success. After 4pm every day, I just sit on a chair in the darkest corner of the house and wait for bed.I was really terrified that I would have to give up my teaching career and go out west and be a lumberjack.Then, a very strange thing happened, which showed the miraculous influence of the spiritual will on the physical disease.

During that miserable winter, when my eyesight was so bad, I accepted an invitation to speak to a university.At that time, there were many large lamps hanging from the ceiling of the lecture hall. The strong light hurt my eyes and forced me to stare at the floor as I sat on the stage, waiting to be introduced to speak. However, when I give a speech in 30 minutes, I completely forget about the pain, and at the same time I can look directly at the lights without blinking.But after the speech, my eyes started to hurt again.I thought at the time, if I could just focus on doing something—not just for 30 minutes, but for a week—maybe I could be healed.Clearly, it was psychological excitement over physical discomfort.

I had a similar experience later on when I was sailing across the Atlantic.At that time, my waist suddenly hurt so badly that I couldn't even walk.If I stood up straight, the pain was excruciating.It was under those circumstances that I was invited to give a speech on deck.When I started speaking, all the pain was gone, it seemed to leave my body.I stood up straight, expressed myself perfectly, and spoke for an hour.After the speech, I walked briskly back to my room.At this time, I thought my back pain had been cured.But that was only temporary, and the low back pain returned soon after.

These experiences made me deeply understand the absolute importance of a person's psychological state.They taught me to enjoy life to the fullest.So, I'm trying to live my life right now, treating each day as if it's my first and my last day at the same time.I am always excited about the novelty and adventure of life every day, and an excited person is never troubled. I enjoy my teaching job every day, and I have written a book, The Joy of Teaching.For me, teaching is not just an art or a profession, it is a deep passion.I love teaching as much as a painter loves painting and a singer loves singing.Every morning before I get out of bed, my heart is filled with boundless joy just thinking about my students.I have always thought that the biggest factor of success is "enthusiasm".

Method Two: I have found that I can turn my worries away with a good and engaging book.At the age of 59, I had a fairly long period of mental breakdown.During those days, I started reading David Wilson's great book, The Life of Claire.This helped me a lot mentally, because I read so intently that I forgot about my mental depression. Method three: Another time, I was so depressed that I forced myself to do strenuous exercise every hour of the day.I play five or six vigorous rounds of tennis every morning, shower, have lunch, and then play 18 holes of golf.On Friday nights, I would dance until 1am.I forced myself to sweat a lot, and found that the depression and sorrow were all gone with the sweat.

Method four: I learned a long time ago how to avoid rushing, how to avoid working under the hood.I have always wanted to study Wilbur Close's philosophy of life.When he was governor of Connecticut, he once said to me, "Sometimes when I'm juggling a lot of work at once, I'll just sit down and relax for a while and have a cigarette. During that hour, Do nothing." Method five: I also know that patience and time can solve our problems.When I'm annoyed about something, I put those annoyances in perspective.I would tell myself, "I won't bother with this in two months. So why should I bother with it now? Why don't I adopt the attitude I will adopt in two months from now?" Woolen cloth?"