In the modern world it appears that worrying has been the norm. With the financial crisis the world has confronted and several people from jobs, people will naturally begin to be worried about their future. This will result in stress and anxiety. Ideas about the stress often lead to more ideas about something which might or might not happen.
Mental distractions tend to eliminate what is going on right now. The vast majority of people in the Western world have heads that wonder elsewhere rather than being at the present. I doubt they even reside in the present. One’s physical being may be there, but their heads aren’t.
Even recent studies, like the one done by Ulrick Kirk and his colleagues at Baylor Medical College in Houston, have shown to improve rational thinking.