Remember the old Janis Joplin lyrics “Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose…”.  Man, if there was ever a time where this applied, this would be it. (Historical Anecdote: while in high school I lived 110 miles from Woodstock and was invited to go –I said “Nah, I’ll go to the next one.”)

Think about this for a moment.  As you read this 77 year old GM just filed for bankruptcy, the US economy recorded its steepest rate of contraction in five decades, some of our best economic prognosticators say we will see hyperinflation at the same level as Zimbabwe (currently at 231 million %/yr), North Korea is getting really good at growing mushroom clouds, the Taliban is about to join the nuclear club and invite all their terrorist buddies, Israel is just itching to turn Iran into a glass parking lot, California is so indebt it has to close most of its state parks and oh yes, let’s not forget about swine flu predicted to come roaring back with a vengeance.  Did I miss anything?

Now, you have a choice.  You can choose to focus on “what may happen” and go out of your mind with worry and concern.  Or choose to realize that everyone one of us really have “nothing to lose” and are already quite free …

Imagine being free from worry. Imagine being free from the grip of fear. Think of all that you could accomplish. Think of how much more energy and enthusiasm and creativity you would have.

In fact, you can be free from the worries and fears. You can be free from them in an instant if you choose. For worry is your own creation. Fear is nothing more than a response you have chosen. Freedom is sweet, and energizing and powerful.

Ralph Marston

We can’t control what happens around (or to) us.  We have total control however, of how we respond.  Constant worry and fear is just our primitive brain’s way of “preparing us” for the worst.  It causes us to constantly be on guard and brace for impact.  Whew!  That’s an exhausting way to go through life, and completely unnecessary. No one can predict what is going to happen in the next few years.  We can say with absolute certainty however, that every person has inside them the ability to chose to cope and adapt to just about anything life can throw at us.  And that is the one thing we can never lose.