Dr. Leo Buscaglia - "Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow — it only saps today of its joy."

Welcome to the Daily Quote, the podcast designed to kickstart your day in a positive way.

I'm our host Sandra McIvern, and this podcast is brought to you by The Great News Podcast.

Tired of all the doom and gloom news from mainstream media, you'll get none of that here.

Instead, you'll find inspiring stories and developments making the world a better place.

Find it in your favorite podcast app and just to make it easy for you,

there's a link in the show notes. Now let's dive into today's quote,

and you've probably heard this one or seen it floating around the internet.

Worrying does not take away tomorrow's troubles. It takes away today's peace.

It's most often attributed to Randy Armstrong, a musician and poet.

But that sentiment traces back to someone who said it even better.

Dr. Leo Baskaglia, known as Dr. Love.

He was a professor at the University of Southern California,

and one of the most watched speakers in PBS history. And he, but it this way.

Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow. It only saps today of its joy.

Both versions say essentially the same thing, but notice what Baskaglia's gets exactly right.

Worry makes you a deal, and then breaks it. The deal sounds like this. If I worry enough

about tomorrow, maybe I can prevent the bad thing from happening. So you lie awake at 2am running

through scenarios, catastrophizing. You rehearse the worst case scenario in your mind. You brace for

impact. And what do you get in return? You don't get a better tomorrow. The sorrow if it comes comes

anyway. Worry can be crippling. It causes us to lose sleep, lose our appetite, and paralyze

our thoughts and actions. All while the future remains completely unchanged.

So Worry doesn't protect you from tomorrow. It just deals from today.

Baskaglia spent his career arguing that social bonds in present moment living are essential

to transcending everyday stress. He wasn't saying life has no sorrows. He was saying that

trading your joy today for sorrow that may or may not come tomorrow is always a losing bargain.

The troubles of tomorrow belong to tomorrow. Today's piece belongs to you. Right now, if you choose to

keep it. I've given away entire weekends to worry. Anxious about a meeting on Monday,

or a public speaking thing that I had to do coming up, or a decision I hadn't made yet or a

conversation I was dreading. And in almost every case, when that thing finally arrived,

it was either fine, or it was hard, but I handled it. The worry didn't help. It just meant I

suffered twice, once in anticipation, and once in reality. Baskaglia was right. The sorrow comes

when it comes. The joy of today is only lost if I hand it over early.

So here's the question. What are you worrying about right now that belongs to tomorrow?

Not today, because today has enough of its own. Don't spend its peace on a tomorrow that hasn't

arrived yet, and may never arrive the way you're imagining it. Keep today's joy, it's yours,

and you deserve it. That's it for today. I'm Andrew McGeevern signing off for now,

but I'll be back. Tomorrow, same pod time, same pod station, with another daily quote.