Let's take weather. Weather happens. It always has, and it always will. Really. We had weather when I was a kid and when my parents' parents were kids, too. Weather varies from wonderful to dangerous on a fairly regular basis. It is great that we have modern warning systems to tell us when the weather is genuinely dangerous. But should not our common sense kick in, too? When I was little, if it was dangerously hot, we opened a fire hydrant or went to the beach. There was no air conditioning in most homes. We drank lots of "Kool-Aid" (yuck!) and sold lemonade at the corner. We knew to take it easy. We knew what to do in a thunderstorm and did it. In tornado season, we had drills and knew what to do. Sometimes we even had to do it for real. These days, every change in the weather seems to result in raised voices on the news and frantic folks everywhere.

On to the economy. It is a great hardship to lose your job, and startling when many of your neighbors do, too. But is that a national emergency? What if neighbors all pitched in to help one another when someone loses a job? How many of us would not bring a meal to the neighbor whose wages were suddenly gone? But now we assume the government should do it. This has several bad effects. The first is that fewer of us step up. Another is that we must be taxed more for the government to do so. The third is that there are now fewer tax payers to handle it. A vicious cycle is thus created, resulting in that family being in a bad way. Another bad effect seems to be massive panic resulting in even more worsening of the economy as folks wait with trepidation for the other shoe to fall.

Which brings us to what I see in my office; what may be the worst effect of all of this new idea of living in a constant state of emergency. (Is it really always "Condition Orange" at the airport?) Normal people with miserable symptoms. From anxiety to irritable bowel to hypertension, people's bodies are reacting to the constant tension to which they are subjected. Emergency rooms are flooded with people in pain. And a lot of that pain is the result of stress and tension. It is NOT "all in your head," though it does come from your response to the stress and tension all around and within you. This means you have to recalibrate your perceptions AND quiet the inner, scared voices. Modern life does have its dangers, but they are less often life-threatening than they once were. However, our bodies cannot tell life-threatening danger from the milder dangers and stresses associated with high-pressure, fast-paced modern living. What if the news really reported the news? What if, even if they continue to sensationalize everything, we could all be calmer and more comfortable? You can. Try Rational-Emotive Behavior Therapy!