the concept and effects of “Catastrophizing”
using references to Chicken Little, Pooh
Bear, Wile E. Coyote, and The Roadrunner.
He understands everything perfectly in his mind,
having had many occasions to dispense similar advice
to others through the years. Nonetheless he is charmed
by this new cast of colorful characters and how they
play out one worst case scenario after another—
There is a crack in the ceiling of heaven! The sky
is falling! There is a raincloud growing larger above
my head! He likes when the therapist explains
that the honey-colored bear with the ample belly
resembling his in some art works, is our baseline condition:
at rest, without stress, comfortable and at ease in the wood
of the world. But the agitated chicken, the wound-up coyote
and the perennially ruffled bird are ready
not only to leap on the first train of worry, but also
to ride the same crooked track that has gouged itself
so deep into the landscape it has no other
destination but down. Just stay on the platform,
says the therapist whose first name in Welsh
means pure-hearted: Not so fast. Let’s make a list
of why your world right now is not about to end.