Don't Worry, Be Happy?

My husband keeps reminding me that life is part good and part bad. Puppies and kittens are good, the war in Israel is bad. He tells me to focus on the good. So instead of reading the newspaper, turning on the TV news or logging on to my computer, I should be brushing my cat or playing with my puppy. 

My cat is 15 and wants to sleep all the time and I don't have a puppy. Still, I get his point: My crying doesn't make anyone in Israel feel better or be safer. But what are we supposed to do? And considering it's not just Israel -- there's still that pesky war in Ukraine that until recently made us all feel bad -- it's a quandary.

Several years ago I saw a therapist who doled out platitudes as medicine. She told me that whenever I have a negative thought, I should just say to it, "Sorry, I'm not going to think about that right now. Maybe later." I stopped seeing her because she was so silly and ineffective. But maybe that piece of advice will work for me during this time.