The Negative Approach To Anxiety [3]

To be continuously striving for the advantage, and never being put off by any set-backs, is held up as the ideal way to be in our culture. We are exhorted to 'try, try and try again'. This message is essentially one of denial however! If we were truly 'intelligent' we would examine what we're trying to do (in a reflective rather than a logical / analytic way) and see if this changes our outlook. We're not machines, after all - unlike machines, we can be reflective about our situation, and this 'non-machine quality' is what can help us, not the obstinate perseverance  with our agendas and goals, no matter how badly that might be going for us...