Quicklinks:
|
Great Writing - Home > Short S. > Pathetic Bob's Self Help: Worry
| READING ROOM | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
| COMMUNITY | |||
|---|---|---|---|
|
| ABOUT GREAT WRITING | ||
|---|---|---|
|
| WORK AWAITING REVIEW |
|---|
|
| GW IS... |
|---|
|
Great Writing creative writing community is designed to prompt ideas
and provide inspiration and motivation within aspiring and amateur
authors. Whatever your topic; from love poetry to Doctor Who or Harry
Potter fan fiction, Great Writing's online writing group is where you
can make new friends and improve your creative writing. |
| WHO'S ONLINE |
|---|
| We have 1602 guests online and 6 members online |
Shorts
| print friendly version | |
| Pathetic Bob's Self Help: Worry | |
| By Emmuttmax | ||||||||
| 26 May 2008 | ||||||||
|
Another chapter from Pathetic Bob's book
Chapter 5
Worry Don’t worry; be happy --Bobby McFerrin Dogs and some other animals worry; they even become anxious, but the causes of these behaviors differ a bit from humans. “Worry” in most dictionaries means “to torment oneself with or suffer from disturbing thoughts.” This definition normally applies to people. The secondary definition of “worry” means “to seize, especially by the throat, with the teeth and shake or mangle, as one animal does another” or “to harass by repeated biting, snapping, etc.” Dogs love the second kind of worrying, although most of us have channeled the “throat mangling” thing into playing tug-o-war with our chew toys. There is a little puppy who shares the house I live in who worry’s the hell out of the cat that lives with us by seizing her by the collar and dragging her around and mopping the floor. The cat, however, seems to enjoy this, and there is no mangling or torture involved. The human species, on the other hand, seems to be the only animal that “torments himself or herself with disturbing thoughts.” The primary reason for this can be found in Chapter 1 and summed up with the “humans are assholes.” Who but an asshole or a masochist would want to torture himself or herself? As I mentioned in earlier chapters, when the human brain evolved, people got “smarter” and grew away from their natural instincts, but that action produced a reaction called “stupidity.” They began to confuse planning with worrying. People started torturing themselves with unanswerable question about future events instead of relaxing and letting the flow of nature guide them to act when future events occurred. They forgot how to still their minds and listen; they asked themselves dumb questions instead. Animals don’t ask too many questions, they act when action is called for and chill out the rest of the time. I’m pretty sure animals are philosophical Taoists. After reading Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Ching, my hopes for man were buoyed; I thought, “Holy crap, there are at least some non-asshole humans in the world.” One of the main principles found in Taoism is wu wei, or loosely translated, “do nothing.” No, that doesn’t mean sitting on your ass watching re-runs of "Will and Grace;" it is an active form of non-doing, a way of shutting the fuck up and listening to what nature is telling you. Worrying does not solve problems; it creates them. Worry turns your head into Torquemada’s torture chamber, and the more you struggle, the tighter the screws will turn. You can plan for some things and for others you can’t, but worrying isn’t going to change the outcome. It’s going to change you. Animals and Taoists seem to have the right mindset for living healthy and happy; pay attention to them. If you are an asshole who is struggling to rise above your worrisome ways, follow the “Tao of Pathetic Bob:” 1. Shake a neck or a chew toy. 2. It ain't broke ‘til it’s broke. 3. Stop doing shit and relax. 4. Leave the cat alone. 5. Move when the time is right. Chapter 5 Summary: Worry is self-torture; torture is against the Geneva Convention; do nothing; listen to Bob. (c) 2007
Only registered users can rate and write comments. Powered by AkoComment 2.0! |
||||||||
 Previous item
|
Next item
|
|---|