{"id":5686,"date":"2021-05-23T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-05-23T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.barbdahlgren.com\/?p=5686"},"modified":"2021-02-16T19:00:31","modified_gmt":"2021-02-17T01:00:31","slug":"dont-worry-be-happy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/?p=5686","title":{"rendered":"Don’t Worry, Be Happy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Think on These Things: Positive thoughts in a negative world\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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There is a lot of wisdom in that old Bobby McFerrin song \u201cDon\u2019t Worry, Be Happy.\u201d According to The Stress Proof Brain <\/em>by clinical psychologist Melanie Greenberg, about 85 percent of what we worry about never happens. Yet, we tend to worry a lot!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We worry about work, relationships, children, parents, health, money, and politics. We worry about things that have happened that we can do nothing about. We worry about what will happen that we cannot control. We worry about what people think of us. We worry that people aren\u2019t thinking about us. The sad part is that much of what we worry about or even fear is not as bad as what actually happens.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A few years ago I had a tooth pulled. It was what they call a \u201cdry socket\u201d which has a very painful healing process. Now I\u2019m deathly afraid of dentists. It took every bit of courage I had to just go get the tooth pulled. So when the dentist said, \u201cIf this gives you any pain, come back to me and I\u2019ll take care of it for you,\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I thought, \u201cYeah, right!\u201d I conjured up visions of Steve Martin as the sadistic dentist in Little Shop of Horrors.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first couple of days I had excruciating pain. I called and got a prescription for some high-powered painkillers but even they didn\u2019t do the trick. About the fourth day I became \u201cpainfully\u201d aware that I would have to go back to \u201cSteve\u201d for some relief.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I tentatively came in and told him my problem. He put me in \u201cthe chair,\u201d looked me over, smiled wryly, and said, \u201cI\u2019ll fix you right up.\u201d Then he took a piece of gauze, dipped it in a solution, tucked it in the cavern where my tooth once was, and presto, change-o, NO PAIN. So for four days I had worried and suffered unnecessarily because of what I feared would be done to me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Worry can paralyze us and keep us from doing what we should do. Worry can keep us from stepping out in faith. Worry can keep us from living fuller, richer lives which is what God desires for us. In fact, Jesus came so we could enjoy life (John 10:10). You might say, if there is anything we need to worry about, He\u2019ll do it for us.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We need to leave our concerns in God\u2019s loving hands because worry changes nothing (Matthew 6:24-25). Worry will not change your tomorrow, but it will rob you of any happiness today might hold. So don\u2019t worry, be happy.   
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*****<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c<\/em>Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.\u201d ~Philippians 4:8 (KJV)<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Think on These Things: Positive thoughts in a negative world\u2026 There is a lot of wisdom in that old Bobby McFerrin song \u201cDon\u2019t Worry, Be Happy.\u201d According to The Stress Proof Brain by clinical psychologist Melanie Greenberg, about 85 percent … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5686"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5686"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5686\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5686"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5686"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5686"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}