How can we change the course of our lives when we cannot remember what it was that we were worried about the night before? Actresses realize that worry is the foe of all beauty and health. Women fret over how others will think of them if they do not worry about their children. Women nurse their troubles, as they do their babies. Their troubles grow larger too. People grieve more than is necessary when they grieve before it is necessary. A man may not realize until he is on his death bed that during his long life he had a great many troubles, most of which never happened.

We can change our life one day at a time. We try to grasp too much of life at once since we think of it as a whole, instead of living one day at a time. Life is a mosaic, and each tiny piece must be cut and set with skill, first one piece, then another.

Thankfully, a clock is not human. A clock would be of no use as a time-keeper if it should become discouraged and come to a standstill by calculating its work a year ahead, as the clock did in Jane Taylor's fable. The course of our lives is changed not by the troubles of today, but those of tomorrow and next week and next year. These troubles whiten our heads, wrinkle our faces, and bring us to a standstill.

"There is such a thing," said Uncle Eben, "as too much foresight. People get to figuring what might happen year after next, and let the fire go out and catch their death of cold right where they are." Nervous depression is seldom the result of present trouble or work, but of work and trouble anticipated. Mental exhaustion comes to those who look ahead and climb mountains before reaching them.

We can change the course of our lives by resolutely building a wall about today and living within the enclosure. The past may have been hard, sad, or wrong --but it is over. Why not take an about turn? Instead of worrying over unforeseen misfortune, set out with all your soul to rejoice in the unforeseen blessings of all your coming days. What is this world but as you take it?

Thackeray calls the world a looking-glass that gives back the reflection of one's own face. "Frown at it, and it will look sourly upon you; laugh at it, and it is a jolly companion." "There is no use in talking," said a woman. "Every time I move, I vow I'll never move again. Such neighbors as I get in with! Seems as though they grow worse and worse." "Indeed?" replied her caller; "perhaps you take the worst neighbor with you when you move.

In order to change the course of business men's lives, companies have sent out a DVD called The Secret to open the minds of their people and teach them that their thoughts become things, for better or worse. When we follow the principles of The Secret or the Bible, our lives will change course for the better.

Inspired by Cheerfulness as a Life Power by Orison Swett Marden

Amelia Johnson