Would you take a million dollars for what you have? In his book, How To Develop Self Confidence & Influence People by Public Speaking, Dale Carnegie tells the story of an article in Time Magazine about a sergeant who had been wounded on Guadalcanal.
Hit in the throat by a shell fragment, this sergeant had had seven blood transfusions. Writing a note to his doctor, he asked: “Will I live?” The doctor relied: “Yes.” The sergeant wrote another note, asking, “Will I be able to talk?” Again the answer was yes. He then wrote another note, saying, “Then what in the hell am I worrying about?”
About ninety percent of the things in our lives are right and about ten percent are wrong. If we want to be happy, all we have to do is to concentrate on the ninety percent that are right and ignore the ten percent that are wrong. If we want to be worried and bitter and have stomach ulcers, all we have to do is to concentrate on the ten percent that are wrong and ignore the ninety percent that are glorious.
Stop right now and ask yourself, “What in the hell am I worrying about?” You will probably find that it is comparatively unimportant and insignificant. And then simply count your blessings, and not your troubles.
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