What would be better?  To have a general awareness of the world to provide context, but to focus 98% on the things you can actually affect:  your family, your community, perhaps one or two larger causes which connect with your core purpose.

The ideal is to spend your worry on things you can help improve.

For example, my list of passions at the moment are:

• My family, including my daughter’s wedding and my son’s career launch
• My spiritual life, including devotion to learning and promoting sacred music
• My business success, including learning, establishing credibility, getting clients, and delivering awesome coaching
• Contributing to the success of small business in the community
• Helping the disadvantaged and needy

I was pondering whether to include anything about the American political system in that, but honestly, I won’t start thinking much about my vote until much closer to the election.  Until then, I maintain a bit of awareness of progress on key issues, but I don’t worry much because there’s not much I can do.

OK, I could do something, but I choose to spend my energies elsewhere.  I’m just fine with that tradeoff.

These five things tie back very closely to my core beliefs and goals right now, which is what makes them so powerful.  If there’s something that needs my energy to worry about, it also warrants spending some energy to help fix it.

How are your worries aligned with your beliefs and goals?  Are you worrying about things you have no intent to try to improve?