"SWINE FLU IS HERE!" stated the boldface headline of all national and local newspaper. Worried, I continue reading, but the smaller type, was no less reassuring: "World Health Organization Raises Swine Flu Alert Level" and "Containing Flu Is Not Feasible,” say medical specialist.

At every workplace, coffee shop and meeting point swine flu fear fills the air. Anyone who sneezes or coughs gets "the look" and a wide berth.

Our access to constant information is both a blessing and a curse. I can punch in a few keys on my computer and access the weather forecast any where in the world, find traffic conditions for my next journey, or ‘Google’ the latest obscure fact. Thanks to technology, I can look up a recipe for my favourite desert at the click of my mouse or watch a YouTube video on how to pack for a camping trip.

This instant information is also overwhelming, as evidenced by this latest swine flu scare. We get our news in short sound bites designed to grab us. As the media vies for my attention among so many distractions, the headlines take on a sensational, often an alarmist intensity. Murder! Famine! Credit Crunch! And now: Pandemic! How do we keep this barrage of fear-filled news from running our lives?

Many of us come from a long line of worriers. It's embedded deep in our DNA. After 67 years of life, I'm still working out what exactly this means. I've found that by letting go of this constant barrage of fears, often brought on by information overload, is often a matter of focus. What am I going to choose to pay attention to?

How do we view the world? Where do we focus?  I prefer to focus on the Word of God, the Bible.

“Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the centre of your life.” Philippians 4:6, 7. (The Message Translation.)

We live with miracles every minute. We can fly from one end of the world to another in hours in "a chair in the sky." We turn on the tap and clean water gushes, as much as we want. We have choices in everything, from what we'll prepare for dinner to what we'll wear. We have the ability to get out of bed every morning, to walk across a room, to read a good book, to push a button and hear beautiful music. Yet too often we focus on the negative.

What if I concentrate on gratitude? Thanks for a beautiful morning. Thanks for the ability to get out of bed every day. Thanks for another meal on the table. Once I start listing the things I am grateful for - no matter what the circumstances in my life - I find perspective. I read of a woman who keeps a gratitude journal for her family in her kitchen. Imagine how focusing on the things for which you're grateful changes your attitude. Simplistic? Maybe. Life-changing? Absolutely.

I love the lines from a poem, entitled, "When Death Comes" by Mary Oliver:
"When it's over, I want to say: all my life I was a bride married to amazement. I was a bridegroom, taking the world into my arms. When it's over, I don't want to wonder if I have made of my life something particular, and real. I don't want to find myself sighing and frightened or full of argument."

Consider going on a backpacking trip to renew your focus on gratitude. Simple things such as clean water only come with effort: finding a water source, then using some muscle and a water filter to transform dirty water into clean. Bathing – is usually a quick plunge - in the icy water of some mountain stream or lake. Simple food becomes quite appealing when you're hungry, cold, and tired. Sleeping outdoors to a soundtrack of birdsong and wolf choruses and a backdrop of wildflowers and deep forest, one gains a heightened awareness of a wonderful, miraculous world that's easy to lose in the hubbub of everyday life in the busy, concrete city.

But I don't have to be alone in the wilderness to find this gratitude. I can find it anywhere. I just have to pay attention . . . and remember to look. I can be grateful for a hot shower in the morning. Or the smiling waitress who hands me a steaming cup of coffee. The unexpected check in the mail that covers an overdue bill and an unexpected splash of colour in a city park.

Any security I have in my health, my investments, my home equity, my job, and even my relationships, is an illusion. Daily, I am learning to loosen my fingers from the things I seek to protect or control, to find comfort in, or to worry about.

I'm not going to buy a flu mask, flip through the TV channels for the latest pandemic update, or panic when the woman behind me at the supermarket sneezes ("Bless you!").

I invite you to join me in practicing replacing fear and anxiety with gratitude. As we do, again and again, we’ll be awed and amazed by what's all around us.