Our dog’s hips are pretty wobbly these days. He stumbles quite a lot and on the ice I worry about him getting injured. I just generally worry a lot. But if I stop my own worrying and just watch him I can see that when he slips or loses balance he recovers quickly and keeps on moving. I know from watching his behavior that if he were worried he would let me know rather than keep on moving.

In this instance what is the point of my worrying? Yes I have a role to play and keeping him safe but being overly protective is more harmful than good. And I realize that I don’t just worry too much when it comes to the dog. I worry about others what they have done or will do… At times when it is none of my business and does nobody any good.

When deciding on my own risks I have a good feel for what’s ahead and what my risk tolerance is. This does not always make decisions easy necessarily but it is different than evaluating the risk of others. When it is other there are so many unknowns. How do we move towards letting go when there is nothing we can or should do with our worry?