A phrase my family has taken from the film Forrest Gump is "One less thing" (always with his inimitable drawl!). On days when we are all rushing around with multiple goals to achieve, we find ourselves, back at the kitchen table, regaling each other with obstacles overcome in order to complete the tasks that we had set ourselves. And, finally we say that, on our To Do list there is at least "One less thing".

It's fairly easy to tick off practical tasks – the shopping, posting a letter, fetching the dry-cleaning etc. But what about dealing with those "inside things" - the worries, doubts, uncertainties that crop up daily – often the same ones that we were dealing with only the day before?

In order to tick them off the list we have to identify them. Perhaps that is the most difficult thing about them. They defy categorization, they lurk in the corners of our minds and loom out at us unexpectedly. We're having a good day, feeling positive and energetic and then one of these nagging thoughts reappears and we're fighting the same battle over again.

By identifying them, defining them, even writing them down, we might just shine enough light on them to make them shrink to something manageable. If we know what we're up against, we can work out how to deal with them effectively and ruthlessly. We can cut them down to size and finally banish them from our minds. So that we can say, triumphantly, with a corny Forrest Gump imitation accent: "One less thing".

After all, his other famous quote is: "Life is like a box of chocolates – you never know what you're going to get."

Rebecca

A Moodscope member.