When writing my book, I tried to take an approach reflected in one of my favorite passages from Scripture. You heard this yesterday if you were at Mass:
Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
I love being Catholic, but I appreciate this expansive vision from Paul's letter to the Philippians. Think about whatever is true, honorable, lovely — wherever it comes from. We don't need to miss out on wisdom from non-Christian or non-religious sources.
I thought about this yesterday as I sat with the beginning of that same passage from Philippians:
Brothers and sisters: Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God.
"Have no anxiety at all." That sounds great. But how do we go about experiencing this?
Chris Williamson is one of my favorite podcasters. He shares much that is excellent on his show "Modern Wisdom."
Recently, Williamson has been talking about a concept he calls the Anxiety Cost. This is the cost of not doing something sooner rather than later because, while it’s unfinished, your mind is ruminating about the fact that the thing still needs to get done.
I can't pretend to have the answer to anxiety — and the rest of the sentence from Paul about making our requests known to God is important — but having the language for the Anxiety Cost helps me recognize my unhelpful rumination and pushes me to do what I need to do.
But prayer helps, too!