Why do little things drive us to the edge of insanity?
Very few of us are cruelly and greatly wronged. It is the small blows to our self-esteem, the indignities, the little jolts to our vanity, which cause half the heartaches in the world. A well known legal maxi, says: De minimis non curax lex- "the law does not concern itself with trifles." And neither should the worrier, if he wants peace of mind.
Much of the time, all we need to overcome the annoyance of trifles is to affect a shifting of emphasis - set up a new and pleasurable point of view in the mind. Homer Croy, who wrote 'They had to see Paris' gave a wonderful example of how this can be done. He used to be driven half crazy, while working on a book, by the rattling of the radiators in his apartment. "Then," says Homer Croy, "I went with some friends on a camping expedition. While listening to the limbs crackling in the roaring fire, I thought how much they sounded like the crackling of the radiators. Why should I like one and hate the other? When I went home I said to myself, 'The crackling of the limbs in the fire was a pleasant sound; the sound of the radiators is about the same. I'll go to sleep and not worry about the noise.' And I did. For a few days I was conscious of the radiators; but soon I forgot all about them."
And so it is with many petty worries. We dislike them and get into a stew, all because we exaggerate their importance.
Disraeli said: "Life is too short to be little." "Those words," said Andre Maurois in This Week magazine, "have helped me through many a painful experience: often we allow ourselves to be upset by small things we should despise and forget."
Here we are on earth, with only a few more decades to live, and we lose many irreplaceable hours brooding over grievances that, in a year's time, will be forgotten by us and by everybody.
Much of the time, all we need to overcome the annoyance of trifles is to affect a shifting of emphasis - set up a new and pleasurable point of view in the mind. Homer Croy, who wrote 'They had to see Paris' gave a wonderful example of how this can be done. He used to be driven half crazy, while working on a book, by the rattling of the radiators in his apartment. "Then," says Homer Croy, "I went with some friends on a camping expedition. While listening to the limbs crackling in the roaring fire, I thought how much they sounded like the crackling of the radiators. Why should I like one and hate the other? When I went home I said to myself, 'The crackling of the limbs in the fire was a pleasant sound; the sound of the radiators is about the same. I'll go to sleep and not worry about the noise.' And I did. For a few days I was conscious of the radiators; but soon I forgot all about them."
And so it is with many petty worries. We dislike them and get into a stew, all because we exaggerate their importance.
Disraeli said: "Life is too short to be little." "Those words," said Andre Maurois in This Week magazine, "have helped me through many a painful experience: often we allow ourselves to be upset by small things we should despise and forget."
Here we are on earth, with only a few more decades to live, and we lose many irreplaceable hours brooding over grievances that, in a year's time, will be forgotten by us and by everybody.
Let us devote our life to worth-while actions and feelings, to great thoughts, real affections and enduring undertakings. For life is too short to be little.
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