Hearing somebody else simply state the case can really help you realise whether or not it’s worth worrying about.

Step 2: Projecting the sense of oneself out of the present and into the image.

Step 3: Psychophysiological response to the image as if it is actually happening to oneself. Rumination and repetitive attempts to reduce imagination-induced distress follow. These attempts are unsuccessful because there is nothing real to be acted upon, therefore the mind can continuously restore the distressing image.

It’s possible to refrain from Step 2 by distinguishing between what is present reality and what is imagination, and choosing to stay rooted in the former. Then the image remains simply information to be assessed and acted on (or not). Or in Step 3, soothe out the distress by realizing with confidence it is in response to something not real.

This is how I observe and work with the worry process in myself, with some success. YMVV of course. I learned about this structure of worry after a traumatic brain injury. It slowed down the automatic sequence enough to see each of the steps separately, and left enough time to allow the choice to take them or not.

For things where you think you have a potential solution but are not sure, just make a decision, closer your eyes, and fire. Worry and procrastination NEVER helps. If you can collect more useful data, by all means go for it, but mulling over the same data that you already had is completely useless. At best, you can try sleeping on it, but anything beyond that is just needless self flagellation.

I know it is easier said than done. I clearly was gifted either through genetics or upbringing to not worry. That said, I often times find that simply talking people through the chain of worries with most people clams them down. Really probing into the worst that can happen often reveals that the worst simply isn’t that bad.

I also like to ask people who worry too much to think about a time a couple of years back when they felt as worried as they feel now. I ask them what the outcome of their worries were and if they were justified. 95% of the time, this brings their worries into stark contrast… they shit they worried about 2 years ago doesn’t matter because it wasn’t actually an important event. Chances are, what they are worrying about now is just as meaningless in the grand scheme.

I’m not implying that there isn’t bad things out there. If you have brain cancer or need to disarm an IED, a little worry is probably healthy. Most people’s worries are not about real things though. It is just the mundane minutia of their lives. The potential negative outcomes they fast are almost always dwarfed by the self inflicted grief they feel worrying about those negative outcomes.

I guess my argument is this, “chill out, it is going to be okay”.

“If you have fear of some pain or suffering, you should examine whether there is anything you can do about it. If you can, there is no need to worry about it; if you cannot do anything, then there is also no need to worry.”

It’s a tool to help end suffering. It is not meant to be a solution, but a question you ask yourself to help you put things in perspective. If there is a solution then you know the path you must take. Step one. Taking that path is another step. True a source of worry and suffering for some. But the point is to conquer these things as the come.

In my mind there is a subtle difference between pointing out problems and, as you said, raising worry. One is constructive, the other is not.

“But then I’ve found, when I actually have stopped worrying, and I’ve said ‘OK,’ and I’ve sat back and just not worried, everything’s rather started to slide, you know, and gone to pot.

“Actually, the worrying — that’s the real work, annoyingly,” she says. “It’s not doing the stuff, is it? The actual work is the thinking and the feeling.”

From http://www.npr.org/2011/05/25/136611339/flipping-the-script-man-in-a-woman-shaped-world

They sneer, dismiss, and peg me a drama queen. If I were a drama queen, I would keen with the pain as instinct dictates, and roll into a caterpillar-ball on the floor. Maybe, ultimately, I should.

My major worry is that involuntarily I will. Needless to say, I don’t go out much.

“Get over it” or “figure it out” is easy for some to say.

Verse ten of chapter six reads:

If a problem can be solved,
why worry about it?
If a problem cannot be solved,
why worry about it?

I don’t worry about things I can’t control because if I can’t control them, why worry? And I don’t worry about things I can control because If I can control them, why worry?

Mick the Quick is wise.

http://books.google.ie/books?id=-YE9AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA63&dq=why+to+lament+why+to+moan+either+there+is+remedy+or+there+is+none

Therefore I worry about the prioritization of problems.

I envy anyone who has so few problems they can be aware of them all at the same time!

2. Sometimes the problems don’t neatly fit into either category. Sometimes we don’t know how to solve them, but might be able to. Sometimes we might not be able to solve them individually, but might be able to with the right kinds of cooperation.

If you are the kind of person who can do something about nuclear war, global warming, overfishing, antibiotic resistance, then for the sake of humanity I would ask that you please do something about them. If you are the kind of person who can influence others to do something about those things, then please influence them. Once you have, then you will have done all you can do as an individual. Try not to worry after a successful day of doing these things, so that you can get up the next day and act again.

This flowchart (and as someone has pointed out, it’s Buddhist origins) is precisely for YOU. Do not hate it. That is worrying too.

Across the top of the matrix is “In my control” and “Not in my control” down the side of the matrix is “Important” and “Not important”

When you divide up your worries into the categories where they most aptly belong it’s easier to see where to place more of the energy generated by worrying/anxiety (e.g., something that is important and in my control deserves more of my energy than something that is unimportant and not in my control).

Same basic concept as this flow chart, only allows more for the “maybe” that someone else referenced up above.

The “can you do something about it?” question does not only accept “Yes” or “No” as an answer.
It also accepts “Maybe”, hence the legitimate worry.

Yes.

Is there something you can do about it?

Yes.

Are you doing that something?

No.

Why aren’t you doing it?

Because I’m a dumbass.

OK, go ahead and worry, what do I care.