I had interesting conversations with two friends yesterday. During the course of the first one, my friend noted that people are more drawn to negative energy than positive energy. The way she put it was "we'd rather watch a train wreck than a sunset." Even though I dislike the fact that this is true, I believe it is. Moreover, nine times out of ten, if you gave me the choice of hanging out with someone who goes to the effort of trying to convince you and (him/herself) that he/she prefers sunsets to train wrecks (and there are a few out there), I'll take the train wreck afficionado every time.

So, people create drama - sometimes out of thin air, sometimes out of whatever is lying around. Remember the story of Henny Penny - the chick who ran around telling all the other animals "the sky is falling."

My conversation with the other friend started with the observation that everyone seems really exhausted lately. Nobody has much energy to do anything. The worry about money, security, the future - all of that stuff during the last six months or so has drained everyone of motivation to step outside the regular daily orbit of essential activities.

You could describe someone in my profession as being charged with the task of helping people get beyond that daily grind and consider what it means and where it is going over the long haul. Some people call this spiritual life and that's as good a name for it as any. For many of the aforementioned sunset fanciers it's about a place to feel safe and comfortable, where they can imagine that nothing bad is every going to happen to them or anyone else. For the train wreck fans, it's more complicated. Some of them want to dig deep and aren't sure how. Others are more inclined to blow off the notion that there's anything more to existence than putting one foot in front of the other. Others are spiritual, but not religious - and that is, imho largely the fault of religious institutions that have consistently squandered opportunities. They have done that by presuming to make sense of all the slings and arrows life offers rather than offering people a framework for doing tha themselves. They have given people a fish rather than teaching them to fish.