Some fear and some worry is not necessarily a bad thing. It might get some people out of bed in the morning. The problem is when it goes overboard and starts to dominate your thoughts. Fear paralyzes and worry leads to inaction. Let's say you have a 10 foot long by 12 inch wide plank lying on the ground. On one end is a $50 bill that is yours if you walk the plank. No problem, easy thing to do. Now, put the same plank 10 stories high and place it between two buildings. It is the same plank and same $50 dollar bill, but it does not seem so easy now. What is the difference? Fear and worry. It has changed your thinking, your actions, and your ability to perform a simple task. As a result, you missed out on some free money.
Fear and worry, which leads to distorted thinking, are the two likely candidates for the majority of all mental issues people have. If you are really serious about eliminating these negative emotions, which can certainly be done, there are resources galore on the topic. This little blog article is .00001% of a pinhead in terms of the available books, tapes, and other resources on the topic.
Some easy ideas to explore further...
1. Confront your fears and worries head on. Do not evade or ignore them for a moment. Explore the worst case scenario of what if a particular fear or worry actually materializes. Like most, you probably will think of some nice solutions to combat that which you fear, and you will also realize that the worst case probably is not life ending. Just confronting your fears and worries head on will provide you instant relief.
2. Get busy. It is still often prescribed today. Getting busy with some meaningful activity will eliminate worry better than any chemical. You have heard the saying, an idol mind, is the devil's workshop, or something along those lines. It is just not possible to worry when you are actively involved in a meaningful activity, like trying to obtain a goal, so get busy.
3. Live in the now. This is easy for someone else to say, but you should try it. Try to live for today and for this moment in time. Right now is the only thing you have control over. Don't wonder into the past or too far into the future. Do not be a, someday I will be happy when, kind of person. When those things happen, you will just move on to something else anyway. Be happy now. Life is moving fast.
4. Your mind can only hold one thought at a time, positive or negative. Catch yourself when you are worrying and thinking negative thoughts and replace them with positive thoughts. Think about it, you can only think one thought at a time. The law of attraction says that you will bring into your life that with which you think about, so think positive and abundance. Think about what you want, not what you do not want. You are what you think about all day long.
5. Examine the record. Examine your own record first. Think back on some of those past fears and think about how many of them materialized. Not many, right. Now examine the external fears we allow into our minds each day. Sorry news sellers, but your record leaves a little something to be desired. Just in my life, these are some examples of what I recall as being life as we know it ending situations.
The 70's impending ice age. I vividly recall to this day being horribly afraid as a kid, needlessly, of the ice age that cometh. Not familiar with this? Look it up. Lots of TV news stories, newspaper articles, magazine articles, and some highly scientific research on the topic. What a waste.
Oil is running dry. The 70's again. The world is running out. We are on E. We must ration. MAJOR energy crisis. We need Pintos, Yugos, and Chevettes to drive unsafely around in. You don't need to be warm in the winter. Even numbered license plates get gas on M, W, F ONLY. Looking back, can you even believe it. How do people forget about this kind of thing, and not realize that this same type of thing is happening all around us today. It seems like these would be nice topics to discuss in school. Maybe we wouldn't have to listen to some of the ridiculous things that we hear some people say these days if certain topics were discussed objectively.
The examples of exaggerations and fears that we are constantly being sold are literally endless. You would have thought we were all doomed with many of these. No, we are all still here...
- Alar chemical and apples, lots of panic, turned out false, ruined the industry for a longtime.
- Silicon breast implants, Dow Chemical went bankrupt, back on the market now, wasn't true.
- Saccharin and cancer - Doesn't cause it.
- West Nile virus - That was just the virus de jour I guess.
- Killer bees - I guess most of them are still vacationing in Mexico.
- SARS - hmmmm, I can't believe we are all not dead.
- Over-population - Have your driven across the country lately? It's 90% empty.
- West coast running out of water. hmmm, did it stop snowing in the Rockies?
And the latest...
Global Warming and the Swine / H1N1 Flu. Oh, but these are real and NOT overblown. Everything always seem real when it is being fed to you on a spoon non-stop 24 hours per day. All of the other past ones felt very real too. You really just need to take a minute to examine the record and do your own homework on these topics.
With the latest flu strain, they will not tell you that 35,000 people every year die from the flu in the U.S. This flu, just like all of the others, could get you if you have another disease, are elderly, etc. Just because there is a ridiculous and serious sounding name attached to it does not mean it is something way out of the ordinary. New strains of flu appear all of the time. Very few people need to live in fear over it. If you are healthy and you get it, it is extremely unlikely that you will die from it. Even the CDC will tell you that. Look it up.
aaaah, global warming. You know, part of news outlets I do not mind, like sports scores. The rest, I will usually pass on. A key to fighting needless worry and fear is to not rely, or buy into so naively, what you are being told, or sold. These are entertainment programs trying to generate ad revenue. That is it. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that, but again, do your own homework and utilize critical thinking skills when you hear or read something. As a starter, look at the not so obvious in an argument. Look at the source of an argument. Look at the source of the underlying data.
Global Warming Updates:
2009 - Climatic Research Unit director steps down during probe into allegations he overstated case for global warming. Climate Change Scientists Admit Dumping Data. Controversy from a collection of e-mails leaked. The e-mails have been confirmed as real and transcripts are available. Global warming advocates acknowledge what they will not concede publicly, that temperature changes have not been consistent with their models.
2010 - The embattled ex-head of the research center at the heart of the Climate-gate scandal dropped a bombshell over the weekend, admitting in an interview with the BBC that there has been no global warming over the past 15 years. Phil Jones, former head of the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) of the University of East Anglia, made a number of eye-popping statements to the BBC's climate reporter on Sunday.
2011 - Polar Bear Researcher Suspended, Under Investigation for 'Integrity Issues'.
Think about this with regard to the global warming hype. The day's weather cannot even be accurately predicted in the same morning, let alone for tomorrow. I do not think I am going to buy into a theory, with extremely limited data over an incredibly short period of time, that our 4.5 billion year old earth is doomed because of SUVs and cow dung. It is just not true, and even if someone of it is, technology is a great problem solver. You will not hear about the 30,000 plus objective American Scientist, which includes 9,000 PhDs, that dispute and have signed a petition which states; "There is no convincing scientific evidence that human release of carbon dioxide, methane, or other greenhouse gases is causing or will, in the foreseeable future, cause catastrophic heating of the Earth's atmosphere and disruption of the Earth's climate." There, just like that, we have eliminated two needless worries for you. Stop worrying and start living.
We are not hear to make a stand on any subject or topic. We are talking about needless fear and worry, that is robbing people, children included, of happiness. Catch yourself when you are worrying and thinking negatively and replace those thoughts with positive non-distorted thoughts. It takes some practice and effort, but you can change your thinking.
Do you like the idea of combating fear and worry? Improving your mental functioning? If you like this kind of stuff, and you see the value of working on your mind versus watching TV for hours each night, go to a bookstore or various places online and work on your most valuable asset, your mind. Do not let needless fear and worry ruin or affect a great day.
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