Fear for sale! Doubt, guilt, shame and worry in stock now!
Have you noticed how fear sells?
It sold the electoral college to vote Trump into office. Fear is the primary ingredient in Trump’s campaign to gain another four years of fear mongering.
The Trump administration strikes fear such that we grow increasing worried about our republic becoming a dictatorship. Will COVID-19 usher in socially sanctioned local to global martial law? (Are you sheltering in place right now? How do you feel about doing your part to flatten the curve?)
Was Benjamin Franklin prescient?
“Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.”
On a more mundane, practical, concrete level fear flows trillions from personal to corporate accounts daily. According to the September 2019 Annual Report On The Insurance Industry published by the Federal Insurance Office, U.S. Department Of The Treasury (p 99):
Since the 2009 low point for domestic insurance premiums (following the financial crisis), industry premiums have grown in every year except in 2013. In 2018, total direct premiums written for the combined L&H and P&C sectors were $1.41 trillion, growing by more than five percent over 2017 levels and nearly 29 percent from 2009 . . . growth in 2018 was the second highest since 2009, exceeded only by a slightly stronger performance in 2011.
Check your bank statment(s) and paycheck stub(s).
- How much do you spend (have withheld) to insure against loss of life, liberty or your pursuit of happiness?
- What would you do with extra money gained by dramatically reducing your insurance premiums (by reducing your fears fueled by doubt, guilt, shame or worry).
- With more banked wages how would daily life change? Remember doubt, guilt, shame and worry feed fears so well they inspire heart-attacks, strokes and substance abuse to cope with increasing stress.
Kindly ponder the following four solutions. Prepare to dissolve doubt, gavel guilt, stop shame and wane worry to finish-off fear. (No doubt you’ve heard / read all of the following four suggestions. These suggestions are far from new. Maybe NOW you’ll engage these suggestions more often?)
One: dissolve doubt(s).
How many times today did doubt consume precious resources like time, attention, respect or money?
Suggested solution? When in doubt enjoy a few hearty deep breaths. With a clear mind you’re able to hear your soul. Doubt dissolves like water on sand when we listen to our souls, (our gut; our intuition).
Need help with clearing your mind? Get some now! There’s hundreds of Medium.Com posts packed with savvy ways to clear your mind — now.
Two: gavel guilt.
Over the past week how many times did guilt zap you? Guilt (like thunderstorms) build until we witness lightening strikes accompanied by crashing thunder. Migraines strike like lightening; squalls of depression crashes our health. Ongoing guilt erodes us until we’re absolutely dead tired from constantly treading water. Life is too short to drown in guilt! Right? When guilt strikes ask yourself a simple question: what inspired this guilt? Explore (versus analyze) your thoughts. Before you know it you’ll find feelings of guilt passing like thunderstorms do every day.
Three: stop shame.
Shame time?
Giving or receiving shame in any flavor, size or smell is about as useful as hosing gasoline onto someone who is already on fire. Could you imagine spraying gas on someone who’s already on fire — especially someone you love?
The next time you think or say, “Shame on you!” you burn yourself as well as the person you attempt to shame. Do you really want to burn yourself? Shame may burn for a lifetime. While we do learn from shame pain, learning need not be painful or even stressful. (I state this fact based on three decades of feedback from students, clients, family and friends.)
Four: wane worry.
Next? Worry!
Worry fuels fear much like fiction fires-up emotions.
Imagine receiving a parking citation in the mail. The mailing looks legit. To your knowledge you don’t recall getting a parking ticket. Because you’re NOT 100% sure you owe money (or you just don’t have the time to bother with going down to the local court house to appeal this notice) you pay the fee anyway. It’s only $20 bucks after all. It’s easier (in your mind) to pay the fee to avoid worrying about something you’re not sure about. Doubts feed worry — right? If money can solve a problem it’s not a problem — right?
Worry is emotional extortion! End worry by facing facts as facts appear. Period. Deal with the facts in an ethical way to dissolve your need to worry — permanently.
As fear fades with less worry, shame, guilt and doubt we enjoy ever-increasing levels of better health (due to far less daily stress). The more healthy we are, the more we navigate crisis with far less fear.
While it may take some time to attain good health on all levels, remind yourself:
“Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less.”
Marie Curie
