Overcoming Shyness

Some years ago I was standing outside a pub when an old blind man walked out the door and stood beside me. I watched with mild interest as he took a lighter from his pocket and lit a cigarette stub in his mouth. I was a painfully shy person at the time but for some reason I thought I’d speak to him. I commented on the bad weather and he agreed that it was pretty awful. I asked him if the rain made it harder to walk with his stick and he said no, he liked walking in the rain because there were less people in his way. Well we spoke for a while about many things including how a lot of the time when people helped him cross the road, he wouldn’t actually need to cross but he would, just to keep them from being embarrassed. He was a pretty funny guy.

Eventually I had to go so I said goodbye and the old man asked if he could have my hand for a second, a little confused I said of course. He took my hand and placed it on his chest for a second and then he let go and said “Thank you, you have touched a heart” and then he left. I was completely taken aback, what an amazing thing to say to a person, I think I beamed for a week! Continue reading »

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How to stop worrying

“I am an old man and I have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened” - Mark Twain

For a moment, try to imagine how much time you have devoted to worrying. Try to add up all the time you spent thinking “What if this happens” and “I hope that doesn’t happen”. What would you do of you could have that time back now?

Imagining the worst (or projecting) can take over your every waking moment if you let it. How often have you spent weeks dreading something only to find it never happened or it wasn’t so bad? How often has constant worrying about something actually helped at all? Continue reading »

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