Feeling Sorry for Yourself? Count Your Blessings.

Nag-aalala ka ba? Natatakot? Nangangamba? Naaawa sa sarili dahil sa kalagayan mo, sa kahirapan, o sa kalungkutan?

Sa blog post na ito ay matutunan mo ang isang epektibong paraan paano mababawasan ang pangamba, or how to stop worrying.

Feeling mo ba na itinakwil ka na ng mundo? Pinaglaruan ng tadhana? O kinalumtan nang tuluyan ng Diyos?

Natutulala ka ba? Umiiyak habang naliligo para hindi halata na mugto ang mata later on? O baka naman napapaluhod ka sa isang-tabi dahil sa awa sa sarili?

Akala natin sa TV lang nangyayari ang mga ganyang drama, pero malamang, at some point in our lives, ay naranasan natin yang ganyang uri ng kalungkutan. Malamang may mga pagkakataon na nagmo-moment tayo, ika nga.

Hindi makakabuti sa ating sarili ang magtagal sa ganitong uri ng mood. Makakaapekto ito sa ating pangkalahatang kalusugan – pisikal, emosyonal, at mental.

Sa bestseller book ni Dale Carnegie, na ang pamagat ay “How to Stop Worrying and Start Living” ay kinuwento niya ang ukol sa kaniyang isang kaibigan, si Harold Abbott. Minsan na nagkita sila ay tinanong niya si Harold Abbott kung paano niya nilalabanan ang pangamba.

Ito ang kwento ni Abbott Harold:

“I used to worry a lot, but one spiring day in 1934, I was walking down West Dougherty Street in Webb City when I saw a sight that banished all my worries. It all happened in ten seconds, but during those ten seconds I learned more about how to live than I had learned in the previous ten years. For two years I had been running a grocery story in Webb City. I had not only lost all my savings but I had incurred debts that took me seven years to pay back. My grocery store had been closed the previous Saturday; and now I was going to the bank to borrow money so I could go to Kansas City to look for a job. I walked like a beaten man. I had lost all my fight and faith. Then suddenly I saw coming down the street a man who had no legs. He was sitting on a little wooden platform equipped with wheels from roller skates. He propelled himself along the street with a block of wood in each hand. I met him just after he had crossed the street and was starting to lift himself up a few inches over the curb to the sidewalk. As he tilted his little wooden platform to an angle, his eyes met mine. He greeted me with a grand smile. ‘Good morning, sir. It is a fine morning, isn’t it?’ he said with spirit. As I stood looking at him, I realized how rich I was. I had two legs. I could walk. I felt ashamed of my self-pity. I said to myself if he can be happy, cheerful, and confident without legs, I certainly can with legs. I could already feel my chest lifting. I had intended to ask the bank for only one hundred dollars. But now I had courage to ask for two hundred. I had intended to say that I wanted to go to Kansas City to try to get a job. But now I announced confidently that I wanted to go to Kansas City to get a job. I got the loan; and I got the job… I now have the following words pasted on my bathroom mirror, and I read them every morning as I shave…”

Sabi ni Dale Carnegie, mga 90% sa buhay natin ay maayos naman, at mga 10% lamang ang mali kumbaga. Kung gusto nating maging masaya o maligaya, dapat ay mag-focus tayo sa 90% na tama, at huwag pansinin ang 10% na mali. Ngunit kung gusto na mag-alala, maging bitter, at magka-ulcer, ang kailangan lang nating gawin ay mag-focus sa 10% na mali, at balewalain ang 90% na tama.

Ayan! Binigyan na tayo ni Ginoong Carnegie kung paano alisin ang pangamba sa ating puso’t isip – pagtuunan ng pansin ang magagandang bagay sa ating buhay. Balikan mo ang mga pangyayari sa buhay mo na naging maayos ang lahat. Balikan mo ang iyong mga tagumpay sa buhay. Dati ka na bang dumaan sa pagsubok pero nalampasan mo ito? Balikan mo ang panahong iyon sa isip mo. Alalahanin mo kung paano mo iyon nalampasan at doon ka humugot ng lakas. Bilangin mo ang mga biyayang pinagkaloob sa iyo ng Diyos. Bilangin mo lahat, pati na ang mga kaliit-liitang bagay gaya ng suot mong sapatos o tsinelas sapagkat may mga taong walang tsinelas. Ika nga, count your blessings. At magpasalamat sa Diyos.

Sabi ni Logan Pearsall Smith:

“There are two things to aim at in life: first, to get what you want; and, after that, to enjoy it. Only the wisest of mankind achieve the second.”

Balikan mo ang mga bagay na pinagdasal mo at sinagot ng Diyos. Bakit hindi mo ienjoy ang mga bagay na iyon? Ipagpasalamat mo sila sa Diyos, kahit pa nga matagal nang panahon iyon nangyari.

Kaya nga ang pagpapasalamat sa Diyos o ang pagkakaroon ng gratitude para sa mga biyayang natatanggap natin ay isa sa mga pinaka-powerful na paraan na itinuturo sa positive thinking, sa law of attraction, at techniques in manifestation.

Be like Borghild Dahl, isang dating bulag. Sa loob ng limampung taon, siya ay halos bulag dahil sa mga scar sa kaniyang mga mata. Nakakaaninag lamang siya sa kaniyang kaliwang mata. Sa kabila ng kaniyang kapansanan, si Ms. Dahl ay nakapagtapos ng kolehiyo at post-graduate degree at naging professor pa sa South Dakota.

Noong 1943, nang siya ay limampu’t dalawang taon, nakaranas siya ng himala. Naoperahan siya sa mata sa Mayo Clinic at naging matagumpay ang kaniyang operasyon. Makalipas ang limampung taon, siya ngayon ay nakakakita na.

For the first time in fifty years, she saw how beautiful the world was. She found happiness in the little things like soap bubbles and sparrows.

“Imagine thanking God because you can wash dishes and see rainbows in bubbles and sparrows flying through the snow!” writes Dale Carnegie in his book, How to Stop Worrying and Start Living.

“You and I ought to be ashamed of ourselves. All the days of our years we have been living in a fairyland of beauty, but we have been too blind to see, too satiated to enjoy.”