If fear weren’t so devastating, it would be fascinating. It slips in to fill empty places, the way rainwater fills a ditch and dust bunnies find homes under furniture. It’s peddled like a street vendor’s wares, and we buy it in bulk, all the while protesting that we don’t want it, that it ought to go away.

I saw this and felt it and lived it a couple of days last week. I’d watched the evening news two nights in a row, and some CNN, and then the Bill Maher’s show. I love Bill Maher: he seems like such a spiritual atheist. Even so, that much exposure to the media’s gloom planted little fear seeds in my head. Then my husband had a couple of light days in his business. It was a blessing, really, since he had the flu and needed the rest, but under it all lay the spectre: “It’s as bad as they say. Nobody is safe. We’re all going under.” I didn’t believe it, but fear is cunning. Beguiling.

So here’s what I did: I focused on God. Years and years ago, Emmet Fox, a metaphysical and writer and teacher, wrote a pamphlet entitled The Golden Key. Millions were circulated. The gist of it is that no matter what else is going on, focus on God. When your thoughts turn to fear or anything negative, turn them to God—over and over and over until God is all you see.

You may need some work on how you see God. If the word conjures up a punitive patriarch ready to zap you for minor infractions, this might not be the golden key that changes everything. Instead, think of God as the most love and beauty and goodness you can get your mind around. When your thoughts go there, this golden key opens the door to all you’re hoping for.

When I focus on God, I see Light, not darkness. I see Truth, not headlines. I see possibilities, not powerlessness. I see Love, not fear. And when I focus on God, I remember the Power that has sustained me from the moment I got here, that will sustain me until I take my last breath, and that will be there after that. I remember that God is the Source of all abundance, and that jobs and clients and contracts are simply vehicles that that abundance rides in on.

And I remember what my minuscule role is in the ultimate recovery of the global economy: to keep my spirits up, my heart open, my finances clear, and my focus on God.