Overreacting to trivial things seems to be a basic trait of human nature. What was it that got you so shook up just a week ago? I'll bet you can't remember. What was that earthshaking tragedy of ten years ago that (you thought at the time) was going to ruin your life? Have to stop and think, don't you? Here's a secret: nothing in this life matters but life it-self, its beginning and its end. Everything else is trivial. You have already been born; inevitably you will die. Birth and death are beyond your control. There is nothing you can do about them. You will survive until you die.

Anything that does not affect your ability to keep breathing is trivial. Short of that, nothing really matters. All that really matters is to keep breathing; and only, by the way, to keep breathing until bedtime tonight!

Pick out the thing that bugs you most in your life. Every time it enters your mind, say:

"It doesn't matter!" Of course, you don't really believe this. And, at first, every time you

tell yourself that it doesn't matter, the bad lit tle boy in your stomach will come right back:

"Who you trying to kid?" Like heck it doesn't matter! But keep on, day after day, saying thousands of times whenever you begin to get shook up about anything: "It doesn't matter!" This is called "do-it-yourself brainwashing." and it works. It works fabulously. You can't do it enough. Don't be afraid that you will wind up like the mother who went to the psychiatrist and told him that her little boy was driving her crazy. He put her under heavy medication. When she returned a week later he said, "How are you making out with your little boy?' With a blank stare she answered,

"What little boy?" This may be somewhat exaggerated, but it gets across the general idea. Try this for six weeks saying "It doesn't matter" to anything and everything-and we'll guarantee that life will be much more liveable.

Note: This really is simply a mantra.

It Doesn't Matter