The Snowball Effect

This morning, when I had one free minute, I was skimming through the Educational Supplement that came in today's paper. It caught my eye because it's about Stress...which I typically have a lot of. Anyway, I saw this quote by Richard Carlson who wrote the book "Don't Stress the Small Stuff":

"A powerful technique for becoming more peaceful is to be aware of how quickly your negative and insecure thinking can spiral out of control. Have you ever notice how uptight you feel when you're caught up in your thinking? And, to top it off, the more absorbed you get in the details of whatever is upsetting you, the worse you feel. One thought leads to another, and yet another, until at some point, you become incredibly agitated. The solution is to notice what's happening in your head before your thoughts have a chance to build any momentum. the sooner you catch yourself in the act of building your mental snowball, the easier it is to stop."

This struck me because I DO this!! How many of us get lost in our thoughts until they spiral out of control, thus causing undue stress? Hopefully we can resolve to be more positive in our thinking this year and be happier because of it.