When I was in the hospital for 3 weeks, head held tight by sandbags & catheter inserted because I was not allowed to move, future uncertain at best, I was across from the room where they prepared the food, in Numerous blenders, for tube-feeding. It was the perfect place to remind me, 3 times a day, I could still eat!

I started doing a Cherokee technique that my daughter favors. She said she imagines she has a "spirit animal" bear she consults for wisdom and help, and she gets it immediately.

So I chose a white wolf that I'd been imagining I had as a pet, for the past two years. Now when I face trouble, I let the problem go, tell "Kobe" to take care of it, and soon the answer appears. Either I suddenly know what to do, or someone else appears to help me.

Both bear and wolf are just avatars of our own energy, but it's comforting to have a friendly creature to focus on, as Dumbo had his feather in the movie to help him fly.

This also happens to religious people when they "pray," which is why they keep giving credit to "god" when they see supernatural answers. But they are the ones who did it.

I live by this statement: Don't sweat the petty stuff and don't pet the sweaty stuff.

Thanks for the advice and the recommend. I've been a fan of the classic Greek Stoics for years -- Epictetus and Seneca and that lot. And that is one of their tenets -- if it's outside your control, it's not something you should worry about.

A while ago i happened across a collection ostensibly of all Poe's tales but I hadn't downloaded it yet to my Kindle -- just now I did and A Descent Into The Maelstrom is included. It just got bumped to the top of the list and I'll read it next. Thank you.

Excellent advice.

Poe wrote a positive uplifting story? Where was this in high school!?

I love Poe! Things are rarely as bad as they seem. I have tried, with some success, over the years to only worry about what I can control. Other than that... Let it go! It makes life a lot easier!

I should have just grabbed a keg!

Great story and what a caring way to help a friend. That makes sense as a reminder to set some time aside to just be quiet, without listening to our worries, and take stock of all around us that can get us through our troubled time, be it depression, debt, humiliation, substance abuse, etc., and latch on to something real that can get us through it.

Makes a lot of sense to me. Sometimes I get so anxious I get tunnel vision and can't see possibilities or alternatives. When I can let go of worry it's like the space opens up to allow those things to appear.

I was in a job where I had to do class work related to human behavior. The teacher asked the class if other people could control our emotions or do you control your own emotions. We all said we are in control of our own emotions. The teacher agreed and then sternly told us to put our books away because we are having a snap exam and that our employer wanted a copy of the results. The room went deathly quiet before the teacher laughed and said "See, I made you all panic so I controlled your emotions". The moral to my story is that people do worry about things they can't change if it threatens them and telling them not to doesn't work and can be condescending.

I'm going to be looking for a barrel next time I am going down to the rabbit hole. Least I'll try. Good story.

That is excellent advice and worth giving more thought to.

Well, here's the thing too, I'm sort of going through stuff myself, and I was not taking that advice. I'm in the point right now where I gave up the panic and the struggle and trying to spot a barrel. I feel remarkably free of anxiety despite the still gradual descent. Something will come to me.

Hey, lets do the Gold Bug next!

GREAT story, great advice.

Good for her.... as long as she had her physical and mental health in a good place she was bound to end up doing well.... good health is so important and vital and overcoming all her obstacles was helped by having that.

I try to avoid all stress and for the most part I am able to do so. The art of doing this is to realize that everything does not revolve around you. There is no "center of everything" except in your own mind.

Some people are in constant barrels and no matter how much you try to get them out of the barrel they refuse.

I read your post as I watch "All the Presidents Lies". I felt the uplift of hope in that maybe we'll find a keg as we are pulled down in the vortex. I'm looking for it. I hope we can find it before it's too late.