– Rob Brezsny
Sometimes, I crack myself up with how serious and important I can feel my problems to be. I don’t think they’re important, mind you: I know enough about the world to know that a website server going down for an hour is not a true crisis, that an angry email from someone who is having a bad day is nothing to cry over, that a moody teenager is not only nothing to freak out about, but is perfectly normal and to be expected. Despite knowing all of this, given the way I sometimes FEEL about these so-called problems, you’d think I was living in a refugee camp, struggling to find food and water for thousands of desperate souls. If someone’s life or safety is at risk – then we have good reason to take things seriously; the rest is just the ordinary stuff of everyday life. If we’re wise, we’ll deal with whatever comes up effectively but in a cheerful, relaxed, and good-natured way, aware that these are not so much problems as opportunities to practice staying positive by keeping things in perspective.