It is hard to be in anything other than amazed as I sit and look out at the Pacific Ocean while typing away.  For me, nature and its vastness allows me to keep perspective when the stress is riding high.  I know that things are not good right now for millions of us, but it is really important to keep perspective so that you can be effective. If you crumble to the floor in stress and shame there will never be a decent resolution to the problems that you face.

I try to remember when the stress is on me a few things.  First, it is not a matter of life and death when it comes to money.  It is just money.  Your creditors are not going to bed at night plotting against you, it is not a personal issue, and therefore except in the most extreme cases (and that is why there are bankruptcy laws) you can work it out.  Second, be patient. I know that when you face a disaster you want immediate resolution, but it just doesn't work that way.  Be happy with small steps of progress and the big stuff will take of itself.  No one else is on your schedule so though you might want things resolved NOW, you are just working yourself up for nothing.  Plan for it taking the longest time possible and then when it turns out to be shorter, you will be in for a pleasant surprise!

Third, no one thinks anything about you.  I am always amazed that folks worry about what other people might think about them.  Here's a news flash; they never think about you, except in passing - if at all.  They are thinking about themselves, just like you are thinking about yourself.  In the big picture, even to our families, we are an afterthought in the incessant self-examination we all have going on in our heads.

Fourth, activity always leads to progress.  Just by taking action, effective or not, we will triumph over our problems as long as we stay in motion.  Activity results in success, always. Lying there worrying produces no outcome at all.  So with something like S.O.S., just chip away'at its lessons every day and in the end you will win.  If you just look at the box, well, no genie is going to pop out and do it for you.  You are the genie, the secrets are in the box.  Use them! This goes for everything in life.  Often the difference between a winner and a loser is motion. It really is as simple as that.

Finally, as I always say, the enemy of good is perfect.  No outcome to your worries will be the perfect one so why bother trying?  That just leads to stress.  Shoot for a reasonable and attainable result and when you get it, declare victory!  Some progress is better than none and perfect progress is silly to wish for; perfection does not exist in nature, ever.