Fear Makes the World Smaller
Day #2 of Fear, Trust and Learning to Tell a Better Story
How do you know you are in the throws of fear or a fear induced fear spiral?
The world gets smaller.
The worst scenarios seem the most likely. The unknown is always threatening and comes with only bad news.
We know we are in the throws of a fear induced spiral, when we begin telling and listening and believing terrible stories of gloom and doom in vivid detail and with such commitment to the reality of the story, that we convince ourselves the story must be true.
When we are in the throws of a fear induced spiral, we ourselves get smaller, less confident, more desperate. We doubt ourselves. We stop believing we can solve our own problems.
When we are in the throws a fear spiral, we imagine the worst in others too. Fear creates morality that is highly selective and simplistic.
Everything “they” do is evidence of their stupidity and inferiority. Everything “we” do is basically well intentioned, beyond reflection or question, no matter the outcome.
When we are in a fear induced spiral we look to other people for answers. Because we cannot trust ourselves to find the answers, we believe someone else must know better.
The louder, the more confident sounding, the more extreme, the more we think maybe they know something we don’t. Maybe they have the secret. Maybe they have the answer we seem to be lacking.
Fear is hypnotic. When we are in a fear-induced spiral, we repeat the same stories over and over and over. Same stock charactersL: good guys and evil doers, dressed in the latest political fashions. Same plots, same endings.
Fear makes us feel inadequate, leads us distrust others, and to trust people who proclaim they know.
Fear impoverishes the possibilities in every situation and generates stories about terrible monsters that tell us we cannot escape and we cannot win.
Everything looks dire and hopeless through the lens of fear.
I am trying to stay out of these fear spirals as I try to figure out the next steps in my own life, starting with getting a new job.
Here is a message I channeled today with respect to fear.
You are bound
to be beyond
compare
when you cross the threshold
when you claim yourself
when you commit to this present
this day, this moment
this now
alive to whatever this day may bring
You are ready.
