Conquer Fear In Four Easy Steps

In a situation:

1 -- DO NOT PANIC!
Panic can make a bad situation worse - FAST - it will render you unable to think on your feet and come to a quick decision, if that's what is needed.

2 -- WHAT'S THE WORST-CASE SCENARIO?
What will you do if the worst happens? Can you live with the outcome? Depending on the time frame that you have to make a decision, you may have to live with it, like it or not.

3 -- ACT ON THE BEST INFORMATION THAT YOU HAVE AT THE TIME.
If you've prepared as best as you can for the worst-case scenario, anything better than that is gravy, which it usually is. If you haven't prepared yourself, THINK, what advice would I give to someone else in this situation?

In situations where you may have a little more time to think, ask yourself what is the worst case scenario? How would I handle it? What resources do I have to deal with this problem? Is there an alternate way to handle this? Ask people you trust, if they are available, for advice.

4 -- GIVE YOURSELF PERMISSION TO 'PANIC' ONCE ALL THE EXCITEMENT IS OVER WITH.
This has worked successfully for me - I've been postponing a nervous breakdown since 1991!
:->... Seriously, once it's all over with, you are not going to want to panic then, you'll be basking in the glow of quiet confidence because you handled something that you were afraid of with grace and aplomb :-).

5 -- (BONUS) After all the excitement is over, have some/do [insert favorite low-cal/no-cal reward here] to celebrate your victory over adversity/trouble!!

When it is all over, debrief:

Will this situation come up again?
How can I handle this if it does?
What resources do I have/can get to prevent this from happening again ('Ounce of prevention', and all that)?
What have I learned about myself and/or others because of this experience?
Is there anything else 'coming down the road' because of this experience that I can see that may cause more trouble?

Sometimes, you will find that the fear that you have is real and justified. But going through the exercise will help you find a solution, while keeping 'mind-death' at bay.

Conquer Fear In Four Easy Steps

A Really Good Quote on Evil...

"If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being and who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart." - Alexander Solzhenitsyn

While I was surfing the web, reading various articles, this one hit me right between the eyes. Spot on, Mr. Solzhenitsyn!! It fits in with a personal philosophy that I have:

If someone does something that bothers/offends you, let that be a lesson to *you* NOT to do it yourself!

It keeps me from feeling "superior" to the offender, because I know that I have offended people in my life (mostly unintentionally), and have been in need of forgiveness and grace dispensed by others. And, it forces me to work to improve *myself*, who is, after all, the only person that I *can* directly change.

Have a good day!!

A Really Good Quote on Evil...

Today's Food For Thought...

I had something else planned for today, but I got this in my email, and it really spoke to me about how blessed my family, friends and I am.

So, rather than re-invent the wheel, here it is:



The following is something to ponder...

If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a
roof over your head and a place to sleep... you are richer than
75% of this world.

If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, spare change in a dish someplace... you are among the top 8% of the wealthy.

If you woke up with more health than illness... you are more
blessed than the million who will not survive this week.

If you have never experienced the danger of battle, the
loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation... you are ahead of 500 million people in the world.

If you can attend a church meeting without fear of harassment, arrest, torture, or death... you are more blessed than three billion people in the world.

If your parents are still alive and still married you are very
rare, even in the United States.

If you hold your head up high, with a smile on your face and are truly thankful... you are truly blessed because the majority can, but most do not.



If you can, hold someone's hand, hug them, or even touch them on the shoulder... because you can offer a healing touch.

If you can read this message, you just received a double blessing in that someone was thinking of you, and furthermore, you are more blessed than over two billion people in the world that cannot read at all.

As you read this and are reminded how life is in the rest of the world, remember just how blessed you really are!

Author unknown

(If you know who the author is, or you *are* the author... please contact me ... I'd like to give you proper credit... Thanks!!)

Today's Food For Thought...

What I Learned Today

Is that to have empathy for others' pain and suffering is important. Even if you don't know what it is. What? How do I do that? By being patient and compassionate with others' mistakes and weaknesses. Many times, people are going through something unpleasant, and it affects how they interact with others. Or they have been through something in the past, and now they are less trusting, less willing to reach out to others. In any event, they are unlikely to explain themselves, and may act in ways that do not seem to make any sense, if you do not know what is going on/has gone on in their lives.

If you are kind and compassionate anyway, no matter what anyone else does, your humanity remains intact. You have choices... you have to live with what you choose to do with them.

One of the things that I heard was that, in the United States, we are here because we, or someone before us, went through hardship and difficulty, or else they would have stayed where they were :-). I had never thought much about it, but this statement is true. The circumstances that happened that moved us, or our ancestors, to where we are today, are and/or were blessings in disguise.

How can you say that?

Well, think of it this way. We are the ground. The harvest (blessing) is represented by the seed. To properly grow the seed, the ground needs to be prepared, which means breaking it up or plowing it (trouble or difficulty), and then planting the seed. Then the waiting begins, for the harvest. Then, the harvest is ready. But, if the ground was not plowed, if trouble had not come into that person's life, the seed (blessing) would not have been planted, and they would not have reaped the harvest.

Every event in our lives shapes us into the people that we are - good, bad, or indifferent. *How* those events shapes us, depends on our outlook and beliefs.

Whew! This one is a hard one for me... It is true, it makes sense, but I don't want any more pain in my life. The little bit that I get is more than enough for me, but if the only way to break through to a bigger and better harvest is by going through difficulty (I'm going to say here, with grace), I will continue to endure [insert whine here].
©2007 LaVeda H. Mason All Rights Reserved.

What I Learned Today