Imagine是想像。要計劃將來，不論是明天的旅行、幾個月後的大型派對、抑或是五年後的事業方向，一定要imagine可能會發生的事。但人想像未來時有種很特別的心理：
A Harvard University team has done dozens of experiments demonstrating that when we imagine events in the future, we expect the worst of bad events and the best of good events.
我們會把好事想得最好，壞事想得最壞。 “In reality, bad events don’t make us feel quite so awful and good events don’t make us feel quite so great.”但事實上，兩種想法都有偏差。不好的事往往不如想像的差，好事也通常不會如想像的美好。為什麼會這樣？
The difficulty is that when we simulate a future event in our minds, we tend only to consider the most important features. For a negative event that means the worst bits.
Simulate解imitate the appearance or character of，或pretend to have or feel，假裝、模擬、模仿。
當我們想到未來時，會在腦內模擬會發生的情境，但只會專註於最壞的部分，所以壞的感覺會被凸顯，”a negative event means the worst bits”，想像負面的事情時，我們只會看到最差的部分，以致感覺特別差。
Visiting the doctor for a physical examination might not be very pleasant, but neither is every part of the visit unpleasant. Some is neutral: reading a magazine in the waiting room or hanging up your coat, for example.
事實上，負面的事情，例如去看醫生當然不是種享受，但在診所內並非每分每秒都是痛楚或驚恐，有些時間是中性的，如等候時讀雜誌。知道這種心理的好處，當下次遇到negative events時，可告訴自己，其實事情到真的發生時，不會如想像的差。這樣可以減輕憂慮(worrying)。
但憂慮總不會是好受的。 Robert L. Leahy在The Worry Cure: Seven Steps to Stop Worry from Stopping You中就說，調查發現，38%的人說自己每天都在憂慮中渡日。
不明朗解救
憂慮有分productive(有益)和unproductive(無益)兩種。 Unproductive的憂慮就是過慮，或憂慮一些無可改變的事情。須留意一些製造unproductive worries的想法和心態，書的第一章’The seven rules of highly worried people'(〈憂心忡忡一族的七大規條〉)，就逐一討論。
例如第一條：”If something bad could happen – if you can simply imagine it – then it’s your responsibility to worry about it.”
又或第二條：”Don’t accept any uncertainty – you need to know for sure.”
Uncertain(不確定的、不明朗的)情況可以包括：
You can’t be sure that all your money won’t run out. Or that you won’t lose your job. If you did lose your jobs, you can’t be absolutely(絕對地), 100 percent sure that you would get another job.
要解決不明朗的方法包括：
Maybe you can get some certainty by getting other people to reassure(使安心) you. Go to the doctor as many times as you can afford to and ask her if she can tell you absolutely for sure that there is nothing wrong with you, or if she can tell you that you will never get sick and die.
這做法當然荒謬，但很多時我們卻難免有這個傾向。 Robert L. Leahy就教我們跳出worrying cycle的辦法。
