About Worry Dolls and the Worry Doll Series Worry dolls are tiny (about an inch high) slivers of wood and cloth and are of Guatemalan origin. They usually cost about $2 for a box of six. My box came with the following explanation: "According to legend, Guatemalan children tell one worry to each doll when they go to bed at night and place the dolls under their pillow. In the morning, the dolls have taken their worries away." I had had some as a child, but I had forgotten about worry dolls until a couple of years ago, when a friend who felt I worried too much gave me a box. Although I continued to worry too much, I also became obsessed with imagining what these dolls might be doing with my worries and where they were taking them. The images used on the calendars and note cards are taken from a book I've been working on which is meant as both a meditation on--and an antidote to--worries.