That is the philosophy of Lowell Thomas. I recently spenta week-end at his farm; and I noticed that he had these words from Psalm CXVIII framed and hanging on the walls of hisbroadcasting studio where he would see them often：This is the day which the Lord hath made;we will rejoice and be glad in it.
John Ruskin had on his desk a simple piece of stone on whichwas carved one word： TODAY. And while I haven’t a piece ofstone on my desk， I do have a poem pasted on my mirror where Ican see it when I shave every morning—a poem that Sir WilliamOsier always kept on his desk—a poem written by the famousIndian dramatist， Kalidasa：Salutation To The DawnLook to this day！
For it is life， the very life of life.
In its brief course
Lie all the verities and realities of your existence：The bliss of growth
The glory of action
The splendour of achievement.
For yesterday is but a dreamAnd tomorrow is only a vision，But today well lived makes yesterday a dream of happinessAnd every tomorrow a vision of hope.
Look well， therefore， to this day！
Such is the salutation to the dawn.
So， the first thing you should know about worry is this： if youwant to keep it out of your life， do what Sir William Osier did—
Shut the iron doors on the past and the future. Live in Day-tightcompartments.
Why not ask yourself these questions， and write down theanswers?
1. Do I tend to put off living in the present in order to worryabout the future， or to yearn for some “magical rose garden overthe horizon”？
2. Do I sometimes embitter the present by regretting things thathappened in the past—that are over and done with?
3. Do I get up in the morning determined to “Seize the day”—toget the utmost out of these twenty-four hours?
4. Can I get more out of life by “living in day-tight compartments”？
5. When shall I start to do this? Next week?… Tomorrow?…
Today?
Chapter 32
A Magic Formula for Solving Worry Situations
Would you like a quick， sure-fire recipe for handling worrysituations—a technique you can start using right away， before yougo any further in reading this book?
Then let me tell you about the method worked out byWillis H. Carrier， the brilliant engineer who launched the airconditioning industry， and who is now head of the world-famousCarrier Corporation in Syracuse， New York. It is one of the besttechniques I ever heard of for solving worry problems， and I got itfrom Mr. Carrier personally when we were having lunch togetherone day at the Engineers’ Club in New York.
“When I was a young man，” Mr. Carrier said， “I worked for theBuffalo Forge company in Buffalo， New York. I was handed theassignment of installing a gas-cleaning device in a plant of thePittsburgh Plate Glass company at Crystal City， Missouri—a plantcosting millions of dollars. The purpose of this installation was toremove the impurities from the gas so it could be burned withoutinjuring the engines. This method of cleaning gas was new. Ithad been tried only once before—and under different conditions.
In my work at Crystal City， Missouri， unforeseen difficultiesarose. It worked after a fashion—but not well enough to meet theguarantee we had made.
“I was stunned by my failure. It was almost as if someone hadstruck me a blow on the head. My stomach， my insides， began totwist and turn. For a while I was so worried I couldn’t sleep.
“Finally， common sense reminded me that worry wasn’t getting me anywhere; so I figured out a way to handle myproblem without worrying. It worked superbly. I have been usingthis same anti-worry technique for more than thirty years. It issimple. Anyone can use it. It consists of three steps：“Step I. I analysed the situation fearlessly and honestly andfigured out what was the worst that could possibly happen as aresult of this failure. No one was going to jail me or shoot me.
That was certain. True， there was a chance that I would lose myposition; and there was also a chance that my employers wouldhave to remove the machinery and lose the twenty thousanddollars we had invested.
“Step II. After figuring out what was the worst that couldpossibly happen， I reconciled myself to accepting it， if necessary.
I said to myself： This failure will be a blow to my record， and itmight possibly mean the loss of my job; but if it does， I can alwaysget another position. Conditions could be much worse; and asfar as my employers are concerned—well， they realise that weare experimenting with a new method of cleaning gas， and if thisexperience costs them twenty thousand dollars， they can stand it.
They can charge it up to research， for it is an experiment.
“After discovering the worst that could possibly happen andreconciling myself to accepting it， if necessary， an extremelyimportant thing happened： I immediately relaxed and felt a senseof peace that I hadn’t experienced in days.
“Step III. From that time on， I calmly devoted my time andenergy to trying to improve upon the worst which I had alreadyaccepted mentally.
“I now tried to figure out ways and means by which I mightreduce the loss of twenty thousand dollars that we faced. I madeseveral tests and finally figured out that if we spent another fivethousand for additional equipment， our problem would be solved.
We did this， and instead of the firm losing twenty thousand， wemade fifteen thousand.
“I probably would never have been able to do this if I had kepton worrying， because one of the worst features about worryingis that it destroys our ability to concentrate. When we worry，our minds jump here and there and everywhere， and we lose allpower of decision. However， when we force ourselves to face theworst and accept it mentally， we then eliminate all those vagueimaginings and put ourselves in a position in which we are able toconcentrate on our problem.
“This incident that I have related occurred many years ago. Itworked so superbly that I have been using it ever since; and， as aresult， my life has been almost completely free from worry.”