by Veronica Cote

Created on: November 17, 2008   Last Updated: June 29, 2009

Three Attitudes to Manage Stress Related To Our Economy

There is a whole generation of senior Americans who lived through the "Great Depression". They passed on their personal stories of hunger, mental depression, financial embarrassment, state tax and bill collectors knocking at their doors demanding money. Small and large businesses were folding daily under the economic stress.

The "Greatest Generation" earned that title because they fought world wars, racial prejudice and economic collapse.

They taught us and pass on a highly developed and cultivated pride in their Country. Overcoming tremendous odds that should have broken this country, they stood firm in their support of her and the greatest, most generous nation on earth prevailed and they did it by sticking together.

So here we are now, facing a world economic challenge, unlike most of us in the United States have ever gone through. The recession of the 1980s was hard, but this go- around is quite different and for most of us who experienced it, feels quite different. It is different because we have never felt it on a collective world level before. The whole world is managing an economic challenge, and we all share the burden. We all share in this economic vulnerability. There are very few families, friends and co-workers this economic situation has not affected, so we are all in this together and perhaps a collective reckoning would serve us better.

Attitude # 1. EMPATHY

Many Americans feel they have been raped financially; we all have to pay the price for some very gruesome financial gains by a small few. If we are going to work through this crisis, we need to look towards a solution and no longer at the source. Our Government is taking some extreme measures to rescue us and some think that the kind of rescue proposed is ludicrous. It is a decision. Collectively we have a choice in how the rescue is going to manifest. We need to acknowledge that. So collectively we have arrived here, collectively we need to find a solution.

Creating an attitude of empathy and caring for each other is the healthiest way we will overcome this situation. Like any physical or mental disease, this is a dis-ease of our economy. Instead of a verbal rock fight between each, that can drain our energ,y take the higher ground of altruism. Attitude adjustment needs to remain our number one priority. Empathy is the virtue that is at the core foundation and heart of our Country. Scientist are now starting to prove that it is actually hard

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