If that discovery could be applied consistently in life, how much worry and frustration could be minimized or eliminated? Perhaps we need to pay more attention to our special friend the clock.
There is a story told about a little clock who began to worry about the number of times he would have to tick in the New Year. He silently told himself that he would have to tick about 120 times a minute which meant that he would tick around 173,000 a day. The more he thought, the greater his concern and worry began to really set in. He began to cringe when he calculated that he would tick over 1.2 million times every week which would mean that he must tick almost 63 million times in a year. The more he began to dwell on this, the more the anxiety began to build. That anxiety became so consuming that his ticker suffered problems, and he could not function properly.
Finally after much worry and indecision, he realized he needed help. He decided to call upon a psychiatrist. Securing an appointment, he interacted with the medical professional and conveyed that he did not feel he had what it would demand for him to tick that often. The psychiatrist asked him precisely how many times he must tick at a time. The little clock responded that he had to tick only once at a time. The psychiatrist then asked, “What would happen if you simply used your energies to simply tick just one tick at a time?” The little clock thought for a moment and then began to smile. “That is the answer,” he replied loudly. “I will simply not worry about the 1.2 million ticks but only concern myself with ticking one tick at a time.” He left the psychiatrist’s office happy, and as the story goes, proceeded to tick happily ever after.
How might we better control our life if we only focused on “one tick at a time?” Everyone has issues. Everyone has seemingly unending demands and challenges that require our very best thought and efforts. However, taking life “one tick at a time” will allow you to better control those insurmountable challenges. You will be able to better align your life for greater enjoyment and less worry. In the end, you will discover that you are able to more effectively focus on solutions, meet your demands, and not be so consumed with the problems. So tick away and enjoy. As American novelist Alice Caldwell Rice said, “Ain’t no use putting up your umbrella till it rains.”
