In August of 2010, the Associated Press reported the story of 75 yr. old Ron Sveden of Brewester, Mass., who was suffering from failing health, difficulty breathing, and aggravated coughing spells. Tests showed "an ominous dark spot" on his lung, which he concluded was probably cancer. 

Though Sveden himself feared the worst, his doctors told him that tests were inconclusive, and only exploratory surgery would prove definitive. Upon removal of the mass, lab work concluded it was nothing more than an aspirated pea which had sprouted in the dark, moist environment of his lung. Needless to say, Sveden was greatly relieved to know the certain doom he'd projected would not come to pass.

Doug Miller reports:

At a business park just outside the loop in northwest Houston, a laid off energy worker named Shawn Baker has launched a strange business encouraging people to take out their frustrations on household furniture.

Tantrums LLC invites frustrated Houstonians to demolish rooms full of stuff with sledgehammers and other implements of destruction.

“You can rent a room, either ten minutes or fifteen, and destroy the contents of the room,” Baker explained. “Whatever I put in there, you can destroy it, either with golf clubs, baseball bats, lead pipes, sledgehammers and whatever else I can think of that I’m going to bring up here.”

Customers choose their instrument of destruction and walk into a room equipped with various pieces of furniture – from dishes to desks to television sets to household appliances – then they start smashing everything in sight to smithereens. Baker dreamed up the idea for her business after attending a concert where they were smashing old furniture.

“They pulled their trucks in behind the bar and started unloading all this stuff,” she recalled. “They were just beating the crap out of it! And I looked at my husband and I said, ‘That’s it. That’s it, right there.’”

So she searched for a site, overcame suspicious landlords, gathered up a bunch of old furniture and opened for business in December. On Friday she booked three customers, two of whom were women.

Indeed, she said, stay-at-home mothers have been some of her most interesting visitors.

“For ten minutes, it’s $35,” she said. “And for fifteen minutes, it’s $50. If you need more than that, you probably need professional help.”

“Worrying is carrying tomorrow's load with today's strength- carrying two days at once. It is moving into tomorrow ahead of time.” [Corrie ten Boom (1892 – 11983) was a Dutch Christian who, along with her father and other family members, helped many Jews escape the Nazi Holocaust during World War II.]

“Anxiety's like a rocking chair. It gives you something to do, but it doesn't get you very far.” [Jodi Picoult (1966 - ) is an American author of graphic novels and best-selling novels.]

Man… he sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his ailing health. And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present; the result being that he does not live in the present or the future; he lives as if he is never going to die, and then dies having never really lived.” [Dalai Lama, born Tenzin Gyatso, (1935 - ) is the current (14th) Dalai Lama, or spiritual/political leader of Tibet.]

“How can a person deal with anxiety? You might try what one fellow did. He worried so much that he decided to hire someone to do his worrying for him. He found a man who agreed to be his hired worrier for a salary of $200,000 per year. After the man accepted the job, his first question to his boss was, "Where are you going to get $200,000 per year?" To which the man responded, "That's your worry.” [Max Lucado (1955 - ) is a best-selling Christian author and writer and preacher at Oak Hills Church.]

“It’s OKAY to be scared. Being scared means you’re about to do something really, really brave.” [Mandy Hale (1980 - ) is a British actress.]

“Temperamentally anxious people can have a hard time staying motivated, period, because their intense focus on their worries distracts them from their goals.” [Winifred Gallagher is a behavior science writer.]

“Some people feel guilty about their anxieties and regard them as a defect of faith. I don't agree at all. They are afflictions, not sins. Like all afflictions, they are, if we can so take them, our share in the Passion of Christ” [C.S. Lewis (1898 – 1963), was a novelist, poet, academic, medievalist, literary critic, essayist, lay theologian, broadcaster, lecturer, and Christian apologist, best known for his works Mere Christianity and Chronicles of Narnia.]

“Our anxiety does not come from thinking about the future, but from wanting to control it.” [Kahlil Gibran (1883 – 1931) was a Lebanese-American artist, poet, and writer of the New York Pen League, best known for his book The Prophet.]

“I had the chance to make every possible mistake and figure out a way to recover from it. Once you realize there is life after mistakes, you gain a self-confidence that never goes away.” [Bob Schieffer (1937 - ) is an American journalist serving 23 years as anchor on the Saturday edition of CBS Evening News, served as chief Washington correspondent, and as a moderator for the show Face the Nation.]

“Though it may feel otherwise, enjoying life is no more dangerous than apprehending it with continuous anxiety and gloom.” [Alain de Botton (1969 - ) is a Swiss writer, philosopher, and television presenter who currently lives in the United Kingdom.]

“It ain't no use putting up your umbrella till it rains!” [Alice Caldwell Rice (1870 – 1942) was an American novelist.]

“It is our work to cast care, and it is God's work to take care.” [Thomas Watson (c. 1620 – 1686) was an English, Nonconformist, Puritan preacher and author.]

“Sometimes your belief system is really your fears attached to rules.” [Shannon L. Alder is an American author.]

“Anxiety does not empty tomorrow of its sorrows, but only empties today of its strength.” [Charles Spurgeon (1834 – 1892) was a highly influential British Particular Baptist preacher known as the "Prince of Preachers.”

“Become a worry-slapper. Treat frets like mosquitoes. Do you procrastinate when a bloodsucking bug lights on your skin? 'I'll take care of it in a moment.' Of course you don't! You give the critter the slap it deserves. Be equally decisive with anxiety.” [Max Lucado (1955 - ) is a best-selling Christian author and writer and preacher at Oak Hills Church.]

“I try not to worry about the future - so I take each day just one anxiety attack at a time.” [Tom Wilson (1931 - 2011) was an American cartoonist.]

“Happiness is not a brilliant climax to years of grim struggle and anxiety. It is a long succession of little decisions simply to be happy in the moment.” [J. Donald Walters (1926 – 2013), was a disciple of the yogi Paramahansa Yogananda and was the founder of Ananda, a worldwide movement of spiritual intentional communities based on Yogananda's World Brotherhood Colonies.]

“The components of anxiety, stress, fear, and anger do not exist independently of you in the world. They simply do not exist in the physical world, even though we talk about them as if they do.” [Wayne Dyer (1940 - ) is an American psychologist, author, speaker, and radio/TV personality.]

“What some call health, if purchased by perpetual anxiety about diet, isn't much better than tedious disease.” [Alexander Pope (1688 - 1744) was an English poet.]

“The largest part of what we call ‘personality’ is determined by how we’ve opted to defend ourselves against anxiety and sadness.” [Alain de Botton (1969 - ) is a Swiss writer, philosopher, and television presenter who currently lives in the United Kingdom.]

“You don’t have to control your thoughts. You just have to stop letting them control you.” [Dan Millman (1946 - ) is an American self-help author and lecturer.

“Anxiety is a thin stream of fear trickling through the mind. If encouraged, it cuts a channel into which all other thoughts are drained.” [Arthur Somers Roche (1883 - 1935) was an American mystery/thriller writer.]

“I am not anxious. I am just extremely well educated about all the things that can go catastrophically wrong.” [Author unknown]

“You wouldn’t worry so much about what others think of you if you realized how seldom they do.” [Eleanor Roosevelt (1884 – 1962) was an American politician, diplomat, and activist. As the wife of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, she was the longest-serving First Lady of the United States.

“I admit that at times my prayer for my children is nothing more than vocalized unbelief aimed at God.” [Elyse M. Fitzpatrick is an American author of more than 20 books on the Christian life and the gospel's impact on everyday living.]

“No power on earth, if it labours beneath the burden of fear, can possibly be strong enough to survive.” [Marcus Tullius Cicero (106 -43 BC) was a Roman philosopher, statesman, lawyer, political theorist, and Roman constitutionalist.]

“Recipe for a Worry: Take one pound morbid preoccupation and mix vigorously with one cup overactive imagination. In a separate bowl, add one part hypersensitivity to three parts increased hormone activity. Fold together and let stew for hours on end.” [Emily Colas]

“God is able to give you the power to endure that which cannot be changed... Why be anxious? Come what may, God is able.” [Martin Luther King Jr. (1929 - 1968) was an American Baptist minister, activist, humanitarian, and leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement.]

“The answer to anxiety is always to exalt Christ.” [Ann Voskamp is a farmer's wife, mother, and author of One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are.]

“A day of worry is more exhausting than a week of work.” [John Lubbock (1834 - 1913) was a banker, politician, philanthropist, and scientist.]

“You need to learn how to select your thoughts just the same way you select your clothes every day. This is a power you can cultivate. If you want to control things i n your life so bad, work on the mind. That’s the only thing you should be trying to control.” [Elizabeth Gilbert (1969 - 10 is an American author, essayist, short story writer, biographer, novelist and memoirist, best known for her work Eat, Love, Pray.]

“The best use of imagination is creativity. The worst use of imagination is anxiety.” [Deepak Chopra (1947 - ) is an Indian-born American author and public speaker who focuses on issues of alternative medicines and spirituality.]

“Anxiety Girl! Able to jump to the worst possible conclusion in a single bound!” [Author unknown]