I was dusting off my office shelves yesterday afternoon, something I don’t do very often because a) I hate to dust and b) I wind up reading around in the books as if it was a holiday.
Suddenly it was late afternoon and my bookshelves remained dusty, but I’d re-familiarized myself with my library and the voices of people like Catherine and Peter Marshall, Arthur Gordon, Van Varner and of course, Norman Vincent Peale. Guideposts’ guardian angels, if you will.
I spent a lot of the afternoon soaking up Dr. Peale’s advice on worry. I am a worrier, and Dr. Peale is an expert on the topic. I was lucky enough to have started working at Guideposts while he was still visiting in the office. Usually he would gather us up in the conference room for what seemed to amount to a storytelling session with much laughter all around. Then, back at my desk, I’d realize I’d learned something useful and serious. Dr. Peale was like a magician in that respect.
In the opening pages of Stay Alive All Your Life, Dr. Peale’s follow-up to The Power of Positive Thinking, he introduces a dozen or so topics as a reference guide to what he’d cover in the book. The first: How can I stop worrying about things I can’t possibly do anything about? Good question! I’ve memorized the opening sentence: “The basic secret of overcoming worry is the substitution of faith for fear as your dominant mental attitude.” A tall order, but one worthy of my best efforts.
My bookshelves still need some work, but I’d spent a productive afternoon. I’m not going to worry about the dust; those guardian angels gave me something else to think about.
