Where is the anxiety coming from?

I feel like I have a really wonderful life right now. I've got a job I love, with colleagues I admire, doing work that feels meaningful and challenging. I've got happy kids, a rewarding marriage, and a great support network. I also have a safe and comfortable place to live, enough money to pay the bills, and projects that I enjoy.

I also feel anxious and disappointed a lot -- along with, apparently, a large chunk of the U.S. population.

It's easy to see that unhappiness as an opportunity for personal growth, and to some extent I think it is. Good habits are important, and I bet that if I made improvements to my sleep, exercise, nutrition, meditation practice, etc., I'd see welcome shifts in my mood.

At the same time, I can't help but wonder if there's more to the feelings than me just needing to practice better self care.

I wonder if the angst and anxiety I feel isn't only about me.

If we are all connected -- and I do believe that's true -- then my sense of well-being comes from more than my own personal circumstances. It rests on your well-being too, and the well-being of my community, country and world. And there's a lot of pain out there right now. 

To be sensitive to it is not necessarily a bad thing.

"It is no measure of health," said Krishnamurti, "to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society."

If you too sometimes struggle in ways that feel disproportionate to your circumstances, maybe there isn't anything wrong with you at all.

Perhaps you are simply a healthy human being who cares.