The work of worrying – when it succeeds – is to rehearse what those dangers are, and reflect on ways to deal with them.  But worry doesn’t work all that well.  New solutions and fresh ways of seeing a problem do not typically come from worrying, especially chronic worry.  Instead of coming up with solutions to these potential problems, worriers typically ruminate on the danger itself, immersing themselves in a low-key way in the dread associated with it while staying in the same rut of thought.  Chronic worriers worry about a wide range of things, most of which have almost no chance of happening; they read dangers into life’s journey that others never notice.

Daniel Goleman

 

Source: Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ, Pages: 67