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Chicken Little Re-visited

Thu, 10/09/2008 - 11:54 — Kate
Do you remember the famous children’s story, Chicken Little? Henny-Penny is hit on the head and immediately concludes that the sky is falling?  She runs around to all of her friends delivering this bad news.  What a catastrophe! Finally they inform the King that the sky is falling. The king looks up, sees that the sky is not falling, and tells them all is fine. I know that is fiction. And the reality for us as we approach Thanksgiving 2008 in Canada is that there is global financial worry that “the sky is falling”. No matter where we turn the media reminds us constantly of economic woes. The other day one newscaster interviewed two seniors who had lived through the great depression. I could feel my blood pressure rise, just thinking about the possibility. Then I turned off the newscast. I took deep breaths. My heart stopped pounding. I began to think clearly again.  It was then that I remembered the advice of a trauma counsellor the day of 911. His advice: Be informed but don’t allow yourself to get wrapped up in a riveting newscast for hours. Turn it off.  Figure out what you can do and do it. We may not be able to control the current financial crises. We can take control of our reactions to them. 

Comments

Thu, 10/09/2008 - 12:12 — Anonymous (not verified)

Thanks for the reminder

Thanks for the reminder Kate. It is sometimes so easy to get "wrapped up" in the news. We forget that we have options!