Anxiety is a cunning enemy in our quest to live in the moment, because it can appear as a caring and responsible ally with our best interests at heart. Don't fall for its trickery: recognize worry for the traitor it is to your peace of mind, and rely instead of positive but realistic thinking.

It's sometimes tempting to believe that if we think about a problem for long enough, we'll resolve it...whereas all that happens in fact is that our anxieties deepen and become more disabling. Don't fall into the trap of endlessly rehearsing the same old issues without making progress at all in your decision making. Let things lie for a while: you deserve a break!

A small worry can be like a piece of grit between your sock and your shoe...it causes an irritation bigger than itself. The key to controlling small worries is not to flatter them with attention. Sometimes revisit a worry only to see if we can make it smaller...but the very act of inspection enlarges the thing. This is the quantum physics of anxiety.

There's an important difference between concern and worry.
Concern is purposeful and rational: a due consideration given to cause and effect, with a view to averting certain undesirable outcomes. For example, we might shut all the windows before leaving the house, to prevent us from being burgled.

Worry, however, lacks the logicality of concern. It tends to focus on pointlessly wishing that things were otherwise, or obsessing about what might happen in a hypothetical future. Banish worry now: it can't help you solve a single one of your problems.