One of my favorite quotes of all time is from Julian of Norwich, a 14th century Christian mystic. Like many mystics from many different religious traditions, her message focused on the joy and compassion one could receive from her God. (I find that mystics of different religions often have more in common with each other than with the less “mystical” members of their own religion. YMMV.) The quote is,

All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.

I lean into this quote when I’m anxious or stressed, for often the amount of stress and anxiety I’m experiencing is often out of proportion with what is actually going on. I grew up surrounded by people who would either overreact or react inconsistently to events, so my default mode was to expect that no matter what actually happened, there would be a…