InspirationMessages

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by Keith Braithwaite

Do you know I have always been a victim?

Ever since I can remember I have always had things go against me. I would be late for appointments, jobs would be left undone, I never earned the money I should, I never got married (the women I met were all totally unsuitable), shop assistants always ignore me and life has been totally stressed. No one has done anything to help me.

Recently I had a car accident. Can you believe it? The guy in front slammed on his brakes with no warning and I hit him in the rear. There was nothing I could do to prevent it. The other guy was a complete asshole and I told him so (as you would). As is usually my luck, the driver is now being really uncooperative with the insurance claim.

I am stuck in a dead end job too. The work is dull, the hours long and the pay low. If a promotion is available, I am always being passed over and am often accused of being uncooperative and miserable. Well, what can they expect? I feel imprisoned.

My neighbours are ignorant idiots too. They don’t appreciate I work shifts and make a lot of noise at times when I want to sleep. Mind you, I always thought they were always going to be trouble so I have never bothered to talk to them.

I know who to blame for this victimization though. He is close to me and whenever I wanted to do something he would be there to tell me ‘Do this other thing first, it’s more fun,’ or ‘Who do you think you are? You can’t do that’ or ‘That’s too difficult, don’t bother’ or even ‘What would other people think of you?’

Someone needs to do something about him; it’s not down to me, I’m the victim here, remember?

This morning though I confronted him – the man who was to blame.

I had just finished shaving and I turned to get my towel when I saw him briefly out of the corner of my eye. I swung around to the mirror to stare him full in the face. He looked startled to be recognized and for a moment I said nothing. Then I blurted out ‘My God, it’s you, you are the one I have to blame for all my misfortunes!’

We both looked guilty as the realization sank in to me. I had thought myself alone and yet in front of me was my tormentor.

But do you know the most significant thing?

He looked a lot like me….

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Fear, and the adrenaline it produces, can have a positive effect as seen in this fascinating article.

Originally published on PsychologyToday.com

By Jeff Wise

Created May 29 2010 – 4:37am

Since I’ve started blogging, I’ve been amazed not just by how it lets me reach out to all sorts of people all over the world, but even more so by the ability of these readers to reach back and share their experiences. Their real-life stories not only make for gripping reading, but offer vivid insight into the mechanisms of fear.

A few days ago I got an email from Tom Bittner of Ellsworth, MN, who wrote about how he found himself acting to save himself before he even consciously realized he was in danger.

A few years ago I was at an old folks meeting hall, looking in the furnace room for stuff that might be sold at their auction that day, when the wooden floor collapsed. There was no noise, no sense of danger, no indication that anything was about to happen — it just went. Instantly I threw out my arms and did an iron cross pose catching my self from falling down an old indoor well. Hanging there, it was then that “Oh, s**t” kicked in and I was able to figure out how to maneuver to remove myself from the situation. The two things I find most intriguing are, first, the throwing of arms to stop the immediate drop without any thought — where does that come from? And second, while hanging there my thoughts went to the fact I could not hear the falling wood hit the bottom of the well.

Ray McAlevy of Birmingham, Alabama had a similar experience under very different circumstances — in his case, while kayaking on a whitewater river:

At age 30, as a fairly novice but well studied kayaker, I was on the Cheat River in West Virginia and decided to go down what seemed like an easy run close to the bank. However, straight ahead, with no chance of stopping the kayak, there appeared a large undercut rock blocking the channel with the bottom of the rock even with the surface of the water. Hitting the rock upright meant being pinned and drowned for certain. In the few seconds available I rolled the boat upside down and tucked my body up close to the boat. It got completely dark as I went under the rock, then turned light again as I came out. I rolled up shaken but okay.

Fellow Psychology Today blogger Christopher Ryan wrote about a near-miss while riding a motorcycle in Spain:

One Saturday night my now-wife/then-girlfriend and I went out to hear a friend’s jazz band play. I broke a loose rule I had about not taking my motorcycle out on weekend nights (to avoid drunk drivers) because it was a straight shot from the club to our apartment, and we knew we’d be coming home relatively early. We were cruising down Muntaner (in Barcelona), safely trailing about 30 yards behind a group of cars sliding through the timed red-lights at about 30 mph. Suddenly a car parked on the left side of the street shot across the two lanes right in front of us, blocking our lane, and nosed into an empty parking spot on the right side of the street. He was moving his car across the street at midnight so he wouldn’t have to get up early the next morning. He’d waited for the cars to pass and hadn’t seen us, somehow. No turn signal, no lights, no warning. Without thinking, I hit the horn, visualized us hitting the side of the car and flying over it (or through it), while my body swerved the bike into and out of the parking spot around the nose of the car — not hitting any of the three cars we came within inches of at high speed, not losing control of the bike. No legs lost. No necks broken. Pure instinct. I felt like a cat jumping through a hoop.

Each of these stories is remarkable. And they all share a few common insights into the nature of the fear reflex — a reflex that we rarely get to witness, and indeed which many of us may never experience at all. Here are some of the points they all have in common:

Fear is strange. When we’re in a moment of life-or-death danger, we’re frequently amazed by how our brains and bodies react. That’s because the fear response is carried out by subconscious systems to which we have no direct conscious access. It’s like a separate personality lurking deep within our skulls. The only time we get to meet it is when our lives are on the line.

Fear is fast. Like all automatic systems, the fear response deploys much more quickly than our conscious thought processes. The amygdala can identify danger and prompt an effective response before our higher-level mind is even aware than a problem exists.

Fear is clever. We tend to think of automatic processes as being stereotyped, if not wholly irrational. Creativity tends to get credited to the frontal cortex. But in the laser-like focus of a life-or-death crisis, people are often able to come up with creative solutions with astonishing speed.

Fear is effortless. Automatic processes don’t require mental effort. Time and again, people who survive mortal danger report functioning with unusual clarity, as they immediately perceived what needed to be done, and did it.

Fear is unforgettable. Amygdala activation jolts the hippocampus, the region that mediates long-term memory storage. This results in the “flash-bulb memory effect”: we can vividly remember events that took place in conjunction with intense fear. It’s a testament to that fact that each of these men, years after a life-threatening event, can recount what happened to them in great detail. In contrast, mundane details — What did they have for breakfast that morning? What were they wearing? — have long since faded away. It’s how we handle intense danger that we remember years and decades hence. These experiences play an outsize role in how we view ourselves. They are formative, transcendent, and unforgettable.

I’d like to thank Tom, Ray, and Christopher for their contributions, and invite other readers to share their experiences with fear. Have you ever been surprised by your reaction to an acute crisis? Have you ever experienced danger so intense it changed the way it looked at the world? I’d love to hear your stories.

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/extreme-fear/201005/readers-write-how-fear-saved-my-life

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Fear is ever present in the world and is perhaps the greatest obstacle to achieving what we want in life. For this reason it needs to be tamed before success can be considered.

But what fears do we have and how do we identify them? In his classic book, ‘Think And Grow Rich,’ Napoleon Hill lists the six most influential fears and their characteristics. We will examine the three most common.

The Fear Of Poverty

This fear is born of the mistaken belief that wealth is limited and if one person wins another must lose. This is of course not true: in fact (as Napoleon Hill puts it) “we live in a world of overabundance of everything the heart could desire, with nothing standing between us and our desires, excepting a lack of definite purpose.”

The fear leads to pessimism, procrastination, feigned indifference and an acceptance of any mediocre rewards that are offered. This can be clearly seen in annual union pay negotiations when small increases are willingly accepted.

The worry of being poor (or failure) can lead to a neglect of personal standards, the abuse of drugs or alcohol and bad financial discipline. The mistaken idea of ‘retail therapy’ where a person thinks shopping is beneficial is also a symptom.

Like with many fears, victims of this fear tend to prefer the company of other sufferers who will not question their mediocrity or their refusal to accept responsibility.

The Fear Of Criticism

This fear is becoming more common in modern society, particularly with the advent of mass media. It explains the fear of public speaking and stage fright. Too many people are ready to criticize those who are willing to do something.

Not surprising this leads to nervousness and self-consciousness. All too often sufferers will not make decisions or express definite opinions. Interestingly they will use big words (even though they do not know what they mean) or boast of imaginary achievements. They may even imitate others in dress or speech. Those who seem as if they consider themselves superior to you are usually overcompensating for this fear.

In attempting to avoid criticism many people may become extravagant and spend beyond their income thus making this a very destructive fear.

The Fear Of Ill Health

The media tend to make this condition worse. Drug companies in particular tend to encourage people to feel they might have an illness and then provide the ‘cure.’ You will not be surprised to hear that hypochondria (imagined illness) is a significant symptom of this fear.

Such is the power of the mind that a fear of an illness can actually replicate the symptoms. Studies have shown the immune system can actually be affected by worry. Sufferers then try out all the fashionable diets and medicines to combat their condition.

Those who fear ill health will look for sympathy and attention, generally acting as invalids. The irony is they will probably not get healthy outdoor exercise as a result.

Conclusion

There are those who consider fear to be ‘just in the mind.’ This is undoubtedly true but it devalues the power of the mind. Fears can be so powerful that they can affect a person’s entire life. I recall one person who was afraid of ill health and expected her parents to look after her. Eventually her parents both passed away and the ‘patient’ got up and resumed a normal healthy life.

These fears are clearly seen throughout modern society and need to be resolved.

Technorati Tags: Inspiration Messages, inspirational phrases, motivation words

Originally published on McClatchy DC website

Tim Johnson | McClatchy Newspapers
May 27, 2010

MEXICO CITY — It’s a simple warning — don’t drink the tap water — and Mexicans take it to heart as much as any foreign tourist does.

Mexicans drink more bottled water than the citizens of any other country do, an average of 61.8 gallons per person each year, according to the Beverage Marketing Corp., a consultancy. That’s far higher than Italy, and more than twice as much as in the United States.

A rising mistrust of tap water is behind the thirst for bottled water. Other factors are also at play, however, including clever advertising campaigns by multinational corporations and the failure of the Mexican government to provide timely data on water safety.

The boom in bottled water has an underside, too. Empty plastic water bottles litter landfills and roadsides at a rate that alarms consumer and environmental groups. Recycling experts say that only about one-eighth of the 21.3 million plastic water and soft drink bottles that are emptied each day in Mexico get recycled.

Mexicans weren’t always as distrustful of tap water as they are these days.

“Twenty years ago, there were drinking fountains in all the public schools and in most parks,” said Claudia Campero, a Mexico representative of Food & Water Watch, a Washington-based consumer advocacy group. Now, such fountains are rare.

Some municipal water systems in Mexico have fallen into disrepair, including in the capital, where a 1985 earthquake that killed more than 10,000 people broke numerous water mains. The city siphons water from the underlying aquifer faster than rainfall can replenish it, causing the city, much of which is built on an ancient lakebed, to sink, which puts additional stress on leaky water mains. Some 30 percent of the city’s water is lost to leakage.

“The infrastructure is very old and obsolete. Even though there has been investment, it isn’t enough. Runoff is seeping into the water system,” said Octavio Rosas Landa, an economist at the National Autonomous University of Mexico.

For years, many residents grew accustomed to boiling tap water to ensure its safety, but natural gas prices have risen, making boiling expensive.

Not all the water is bad. Some provincial cities have improved their water systems, and Environment Ministry officials say that 85 percent of the water coursing through municipal systems is potable. Consumers, however, don’t know when they might sip the other 15 percent. Many Mexicans simply don’t trust the government to deliver clean, pure water.

That’s where multinational companies with bottled water divisions — such as Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, France’s Groupe Danone and the Swiss giant Nestle — have found an opening.

“These companies tell people to have confidence in them rather than in the government,” Campero said.

One can hardly turn on the television without seeing an ad of a lithe young woman in a sweatsuit sipping from a bottle of premium water or a woman in a bikini whose svelte physique seems due to the bottle of water in her hand.

“Drink 2 liters of water a day,” the ads from Bonafont, a leading brand from Danone, say in block letters at the bottom of the screen. Another ad says: “Eliminate what your body doesn’t need.”

“The competition is very intense,” said beverage analyst Ana Paula Pedroni of the IXE brokerage. “The trend is for more marketing.”

On street corners, vendors hawk liter bottles of water. Restaurants don’t offer tap water, insisting that diners buy bottled water. Primary school students must take money to buy bottled water from kiosks. One brand uses characters from Looney Toons to appeal to the student market.

“Most of my students carry bottles of water, and they drink a lot with this heat,” said Rosas Landa, the university economist and water expert.

For big companies, the boom in bottled water consumption in developing countries such as Mexico, India, China and Indonesia has been a godsend, since consumers in Europe, a stronghold of bottled water, have rebelled against throwaway plastic bottles as harmful to the environment.

Not so in Mexico. Former President Vicente Fox, a longtime Coca-Cola executive, looked positively on rising soft drink and bottled water sales, seeing them as a driver of economic growth. Mexicans drink an average of 42.3 gallons of soft drinks per capita annually, surpassed only by U.S. consumers.

The growth of soft drink consumption is slowing in comparison with water, however.

“The sale of water has risen on the order of 8 percent, while soft drinks rose 2 percent,” Pepsi Mexico President Juan Gallardo Thurlow announced in early April.

The Beverage Marketing Corp. in New York City says Mexico’s bottled water market composes 13 percent of the world’s total, and has grown at 8 percent for each of the past five years.

Consumer advocates say Mexicans’ thirst could be quenched more easily and inexpensively if municipalities provided reliable drinking water.

“The state has contributed to these companies taking over the market and converting drinking water into a saleable product,” said Alejandro Calvillo, the head of Power to the Consumer, a nonprofit Mexican advocacy group.

Calvillo’s group estimates that the average Mexican family spends $140 a year on bottled water, much of it in 5-gallon plastic jugs that are commonly delivered to homes. The expense puts a heavy burden on low-income families, he added.

In impoverished neighborhoods in outlying Mexico City, scores of private water companies have popped up, offering large jugs of water for 10 pesos, or about 77 U.S. cents, a third of the price of water from the multinational companies. Such concerns face few inspections, giving consumers water of indeterminate quality.

Further, most Mexican consumers refuse to separate plastic products for recycling, and those who seek to recycle can struggle to find places that’ll accept post-consumer plastic.

“The corporations make the consumers responsible for recycling,” Rosas Landa said. “They produce the containers, but don’t take responsibility for recycling the bottles.”

A Houston-based recycling services company, Avangard Innovative Ltd., joined with a Mexican environmental services company last year to open a $35 million recycling plant in Toluca to handle PET, polyethylene terephthalate, the strong, light plastic that’s resistant to heat and impermeable to carbonation, making it perfect for beverages.

Still, Calvillo said: “A large part of the PET bottles that are collected are sent to China for recycling.” The Chinese plants grind PET bottles into fibers for use in carpeting and other consumer products to sell to countries such as Mexico.

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/05/27/94943/in-mexico-fear-of-tap-water-fuels.html

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What is the opposite of fear? Is it courage? Is it contentment? Or is the opposite of fear something more subtle, less finite.

Fear manifests itself in a myriad of ways, colored differently for each person and situation.

Fear is a huge force in the life of every person, whether they identify it or not. It is used as a tool by the media, to garner better ratings. It is employed by companies to motivate us to buy, and it is wielded by governments to manipulate opinion and behavior.

While most people might readily see how fear is used in these ways once a bit of light is shed on them, it is the personal fears within each of us that are more covert and insidious.

We each are a very complex arrangement of experiences and emotions, no two ever the same. Two people having what seems like the same experience will be affected differently. One person might assimilate it as a positive, strength and wisdom-rich moment, while another might feel it as an uncomfortable and unsure one. Both will carry their individual emotions connected with the event forever, and they will serve to reinforce like emotions already present.

We go to great lengths to give our fears credibility. We use what we see as cold logic, and seek examples to reinforce it. Sometimes lifestyle choices are actually deep rooted fears transformed over a lifetime, given a “respectable” face, and thus relatively free from societal ridicule.

Most of us are familiar with the phrase “face up to your fears” but what does that really mean? Many would think of an extrinsic fear, a fear of snakes for example. But the most difficult, and ultimately the most important fears to tackle are the ones that undermine us from the inside.

To do the work of self-analysis requires complete honesty and complete disclosure with yourself. It requires listening to that quiet, soft voice inside that tells us what is truly authentic. We all have an internal compass, but it is drowned out by the noise of life, the noise of our own minds, constantly chattering and rationalizing, bargaining with our emotions.

The idea of this kind of ultimate exercise in personal honesty is a fear that many cannot even begin to fathom, so horrible is their true self-image. People who are violent and cruel are in the worst kind of pain – they see themselves as the worst kind of person, so using those emotions in destructive ways is all they know how to do.

The majority of people do not fall into this category, but nevertheless have fabricated a self-image that may or may not be in keeping with their true selves. “What do you mean, my ‘true self’?” I have heard people say…it means looking inward, discovering the real reasons and influences that make you who you are. People on their deathbeds are free – they are free of all the masks, the superficial trappings of identity. For many it is the only time in their lives that they are 100% themselves. The journey of self-evaluation and discovery is the means to be 100% yourself, with life yet to live.

So the opposite of fear then, as I would define it, is acceptance, forgiveness and grace.

Dara Hurt

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by Keith Braithwaite

A long, long time ago a knight in shining armour was wending his way home after spending several weeks rescuing damsels in distress, fighting black knights, killing dragons – you know, the usual stuff. It had been a hard time and he was looking forward to relaxing. He was thinking about quaffing a beer or two, chasing his wench around the house a bit, watching some telly when he entered a beautiful valley he had not seen before.

He pulled back his white steed and gazed down at the verdant green fields surrounded by low mountains and thought what a peaceful place it was.

He became aware of an old man walking up the track before him. The knight hailed the old man, ‘Tell me sir, what valley is this?’

‘It is the valley of Marlais, sire,’ replied the man.

The knight sighed. ‘It looks a lovely peaceful, prosperous place.’

‘It does, sire, and yet it shows how looks do deceive.’

‘How so? ’ Queried the warrior.

‘What you see are beautiful mountains and green, productive meadows.’

‘I do.’

‘And yet the people here are poor and starving.’

‘No, that cannot be so. I can see a winding river and a water mill for grinding the corn. I can also see a picturesque village beyond.’

‘Ah, what you cannot see, sire, is the fear. In the mountain called Mynydd Pencarreg you see in front of you is a cave. In this cave lives a dragon. No one dares to enter the fields in case they anger the dragon.’

The knight smiles, reaches inside his armour and pulls out a business card. He hands it to the old man who reads it. It says, ‘Sir Edmund De Hero, damsels rescued, nasty bullies chased off and dragons slain. Competitive rates and quantity discounts available on request.’

Sir Edmund smiles, ‘this is your lucky day. Dragons are my speciality.’

The old man smiles grimly and hands back the card. ‘Sorry, sire but we cannot use your services. We dare not anger the dragon and bring him into the open. We prefer to have him in his cave.’

The knight frowned. ‘But the valley is dying even with the dragon in his cave. If you are to be rid of him, you need to bring him out. Dragons are killed in the open, not in their cave.’

‘You do not understand, sire. We fear bringing him out. If he stays where he is, perhaps he will leave us alone.’

‘But you still fear him.’

‘That is true sire. But we hope the fear of the dragon will go away eventually.’

The warrior sighed. ‘How long has this been going on?’

‘Forty-six years, sire.’

‘Forty-six years!’ He exclaimed. ‘You have been living in fear for forty-six years?’

‘Yes, sire. There is nothing you can do, sire, so we would prefer it if you kept on riding and didn’t stop.’ With this the old man started walking and without a look over his shoulder disappeared over the ridge behind the knight.

Sir Edmund pondered. He had had a successful campaign, business had been good. Perhaps he could do one favour for free.

‘Blow this for a game of soldiers,’ he thought. ‘These people cannot carry on like this. Losing sleep over their fear and not being productive as well; I will go and see if I can do something about this damn dragon myself.’

So saying, he encouraged his horse forward. He rode across the valley. As expected, the fields were overgrown and fallow. The mill was silent and dilapidated. Nothing was being produced. He continued through the village of Llansawel where the people treated him with suspicion. They wore rags and were clearly undernourished and scared. Their lives were being wasted through fear.

Shaking his head, the knight continued to the mountain of Mynydd Pencarreg.

At the mountains foot he reined his horse in and gazed up at the rocks above him. The large gaping hole of the cave was clear to see at the top of a gentle slope. He grunted and dismounted. There was a small sapling to hand so he tethered his mount there. He unsheathed his reliable sword, Matilda, and set off up the slope to the cave.

The day was warm and he was sweating inside his armour by the time he reached the cave mouth but he was pleased he was not out of breath. Nonetheless he paused at the gaping entrance and peered into the depths.

A sound from one side made him swing round, his sword ready to defend. The sword point lowered when he realised what he saw. There was a funny, ugly old man in a waistcoat and wide brimmed hat, sat in a deckchair, reading a book.

‘Hello, old man,’ called the knight.

The old man dropped his book in his surprise. ‘Gawd, mate, you didn’t half give me a shock.’

‘Perhaps you can direct me, my man. Is this the cave in which lives the dragon?’

‘You what? The dragon? Yes, he lives here all right. I must say no one has been up here for years.’

‘That doesn’t surprise me at all,’ said the knight. ‘Well, I’m going in to find the dragon. You had better stand to one side. It might get bloody. I have to chase the dragon out before I slay him.’

‘Slay him?’ said the old man in a quivering voice. ‘That sounds a bit drastic to me.’

‘Well, I have to kill him, he is terrorising the village below.’

‘I daresay the villagers are responsible for their own fears.’

‘How so?’

‘What do they know about the dragon?’

‘He is nasty and fire breathing and scary – you know the sort of thing.’

‘You know this for a fact?’

‘Everyone knows it. It’s what dragons are generally.’

‘Are you sure?’

‘Of course, everyone knows what they are like. Anyway, I am wasting time. I need to go in and chase the bugger out.’

So saying, the knight strode in a very manly way into the cave. He made his way deeper into the damp, cool interior. He searched all the rocks and eventually found signs of inhabitation but no dragon. He returned to the entrance scratching his head (remembering not to use his sword hand as a friend of his had made that mistake and cut off his ear).

He saw the old man hiding behind a large stone. ‘Hey, you, have you seen a dragon pass this way?’

The old man stammered. ‘A dragon?…Er…no, well, I don’t think so. What does he look like?’

‘What does he look like? Well, like a damn dragon – what else could he look like.’ The knight suddenly stopped. ‘Old man, come here a second.’

‘No, that’s fine. Er…I have to go and feed the chickens.’

‘Chickens? I don’t believe that!’ So saying the knight leapt forward, sounding like a fight in a scrap metal yard, and grabbed the old man. With one movement learned from years of wenching he whipped off the old man’s hat and waistcoat.

‘Aha!’ He cried melodramatically. He had revealed pointy ears and a long scaly tail. ‘You are the dragon. Hang on though, you are smaller than me and not very scary.’

The dragon puffed out his cheeks and sighed. ‘Okay, mate, you’ve rumbled me. Yes, I am the dragon. Nigel is the name. And, yes, I’m not that scary, but I really can’t help the bad press we dragons get. All I do is make some Celtic artwork based on my family photo album and sell it in the next valley where no one knows me. I’m not doing any harm, really.’

The knight’s brow furrowed, ‘Well, I’m not sure what to do now. The valley of Marlais is dying because of you.’

‘Look, Mr Knight. I can see your dilemma but it’s not me causing it. It is the fear the villagers create themselves. I have to say I would prefer to leave this damp, draughty cave and buy myself a nice semi-detached peasants hovel in the village. I have a brochure here I got from the agent in the next valley. Hot and cold running water, gas fired central heating, decking at the back – you know the sort of thing. But the truth is I have no hope. What if my neighbours found out I was a dragon? I would be banned from everything – no access to the pub and no opportunities to play bingo.’

‘I see the problem,’ said the knight. He pondered for a moment. ‘It seems to me what we need to do is to get you and the villagers together so you can understand each other’s point of view.’

‘I like the idea,’ agreed the dragon, ‘but how will we do that?’

The knight clicked his fingers, ‘There is no time like the present, let’s go down there together now. Put on your hat and waistcoat again and we will set off.’

‘Okay,’ said the dragon warily, ‘but promise no whipping off my head when my back is turned.’

‘Cross my heart and hope to die,’ said Sir Edmund.

So the knight and the dragon started for the village. They were received grudgingly at first and then with fear when the villagers realised the old man was the dragon. But after some negotiation, the people started to understand their fears had been groundless.

Gradually, Nigel the dragon became accepted in the village of Llansawel and the valley started to come to life. The fields started to produce and the mill repaired and corn ground. Laughter came again to the valley of Marlais.

Nigel found a dragon wife through the Internet and now lives in the semi-detached hovel he wanted. He drives a top-of-the-range cart with air-conditioning. He and his wife still produce artefacts based on his photo album but they now sell them from a little gift shop they have in the high street. Nigel is even a stalwart of the pub darts team.

If you visit the Marlais valley today, be sure to view the cave in the mountain of Mynydd Pencarreg. There are guided tours and you will learn about the dragon that used to live there. If the guide is wearing a wide-brimmed hat and a waistcoat, listen to what he says with extra interest….

Is there a moral to this story? Yes, there is. Fears are more destructive than reality. Be sure you understand what it is you fear. It is ignorance that destroys.

Oh, and one other thing. Both fears and dragons are slain in the open, not in the cave. If you have a fear, never keep it hidden. Bring it into the open. When a dragon or fear comes into the open, its power is lessened and understanding and knowledge and love will remove it altogether.

Technorati Tags: Inspiration Messages, inspirational phrases, Inspirational Stories, motivation words

Fear can paralyse

Originally posted on Personal Branding Blog

By: Kyle Lacy on May 20th, 2010 at 5:30

I was driving to work this morning listening to a great track by Sufjan Stevens… reminiscing about my “musical” days in college. I played guitar for a long time and have just recently put it aside for other hobbies and activities. I want you to know that I have never… ever… ever talked about this with anyone. This is the “I’m Being Completely Open” show.

Get Ready

During the years of guitar playing… I had always wanted to perform in front of a group of people and honestly… I don’t think I knew exactly what that entailed… maybe it was playing my own songs or playing a popular song from John Mayer (God forbid)… who knows? The deep down desire was to play in front of a group of people… my acoustic guitar and a mic.

It never happened.

I can associate most of my hesitation with fear. It is a hard thing to admit… that you were actually afraid of doing something and it kept you from actually realizing some sort of… success or maybe pride? My fear of being laughed at and individuals not enjoying my music kept me from walking up and just doing something… crossing it off my list.

Is anyone connecting with me on this?

Fear is an extremely powerful thing. It can paralyze you in business and in life… destroying the dreams that you were building over the years of work and preparation.

The problem with fear is that… sometimes… it keeps ordinary people from doing extraordinary things. And let’s be honest… do you really want to admit you didn’t do something because of fear? Steve Jobs would laugh in your face.

I decided to screw fear and take a stab at doing what I wanted… without hesitation. There may come a time when I step on a stage and perform for the.. two people in the room. Until then, I am going to move forward with my head down. I would rather deal with the ramifications of my actions than never know the outcome because of hesitation.
Speak your mind. Live life to the fullest and never regret your decisions.

Author:

Kyle writes a regular blog at KyleLacy.com and is founder and CEO of Brandswag, a social media strategy and training company. His blog has been featured on Wall Street Journal’s website and Read Write Web’s daily blog journal. Recently, Kyle was voted as one of the top 150 social media blogs in the world (on two websites), and produces regular keynote speeches across the Midwest. He also just finished writing Twitter Marketing for Dummies by Wiley Publishing.

http://www.personalbrandingblog.com/fear-will-leave-you-breathless-and-stupid/

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Clearly, fear can be used for good…..

Originally posted on dbtechno.com website.

May 18, 2010
Results of a new study show that the fear of wrinkles may have more weight when it comes to preventing women from using tanning beds that the threat of skin cancer.

Tanning beds are very dangerous but despite this fact, millions of people use them each year, putting themselves at risk of melanoma, the most deadliest form of skin cancer.

Wrinkles are also a by-product of tanning beds, and according to a research team from East Tennessee State University in Johnson City, the fear of leathery wrinkling skin is one that many women take very seriously.
For years, the method used to try to educate women of the dangers of tanning beds has centered around skin cancer, and the risk from tanning beds.

Now researchers are finding that modifying this approach to include increased risk of a damaged appearance is having more of an impact on women, who are now starting to take notice.

Lead researcher Joel Hillhouse, PhD, a professor of public health said: “Don’t focus on skin cancer. The message that will get young women’s attention is indoor tanning’s long-term effect on their appearance. That will wake them up and get them to think about this.”

http://www.dbtechno.com/health/2010/05/18/fear-of-wrinkles-turning-women-off-tanning-beds/#comment-94733

Technorati Tags: Inspiration Messages, inspirational phrases, motivation words

This article shows how the financial markets are profoundly affected by fear.

Originally posted on The Economist’s View on 16 May 2010.

By Mark Thoma

If you believe the price of a good you consume regularly is going to go up in the future, the best thing to do is to stock up now. If everyone else shares that belief, that will drive the price up, just as you thought. Thus, even if the expectation of an increase in the price was driven by nothing more than speculation and rumor, the expected change in the price will be self-fulfilling. Beliefs about the future will be validated by observable events, and this will tend to reinforce the beliefs (this is one way a bubble could get started, but the point here is simply that expectations can be self-fulfilling).

Robert Shiller says there is a growing belief that the economy will have a double-dip recession, and that this belief may cause the outcome people are worried about:

Fear of a Double Dip Could Cause One, by By Robert J. Shiller, Commentary, NY Times:

“The risk of a double-dip recession hasn’t abated…, the danger stems from the weakness and vulnerability of confidence — whose decline could bring markets down, further stress balance sheets and cause cuts in consumption, investment and local government expenditures.

Ultimately, the risk resides largely in social psychology. It is the fear of fear itself, of which Franklin D. Roosevelt famously spoke.

From 2007 to 2009, there was widespread concern about the risk of an economic depression, but that scare has been abating. Since mid-2009, it has been replaced by the milder worry of a double-dip recession… And with that depression scare still fresh in our minds, sensitivity to the possibility of another downturn remains high.

To be sure, many economists doubt that a double-dip recession is in store. … And there have been encouraging factors… But forecasters … may be missing the real worry that many people harbor about the economy.

I use a definition of a double-dip recession that doesn’t emphasize the short term. Instead, I see it as … a recession in which unemployment rises to a high level and then falls at a disappointingly slow rate. Before employment returns to normal, there is a second recession. As long as economic recovery isn’t complete, that’s a double-dip recession, even if there are years between the declines.

Under that definition, there has been only one serious double-dip recession in the last century — and it was serious indeed. It started with the 1929-33 recession, which was followed by a recession in 1937-38. Between those declines, the unemployment rate never moved below 12.2 percent. Those two recessions, four years apart, are now typically lumped together as one event, the Great Depression.

Many negative factors persisted between those dips. High among them was a widespread sense then that something was amiss with the economy. There was a feeling of uncertainty that discouraged entrepreneurship, lending and spending, and most important, hiring.

We have to deal with a similar — though less extreme — problem today. Many of us are unsettled by images that are preventing a return to normal confidence — images of rioting in Athens, or of baffled American traders during the nearly 10 percent drop in the stock market on May 6. And if the BP oil spill … eventually wreaks havoc on the gulf economy, we may need to add it to the list, too. …

Fostered by mass psychology,… aftershocks could occur in the next year or two. This … could be … severe. … We need to look at short-run events, like the market reaction to the Greek bailout, as no more than side effects. Slowly moving changes in our animal spirits represent the real risk of a double-dip recession.”

I think the more likely trigger is further economic trouble. We could be hit by big shocks that we are vaguely aware might be a problem but do not yet fully anticipate, or it could be something else unexpected — another big oil shock for political or other reasons would be hard for the recovering economy to absorb. Even more likely is an outbreak of extreme hawkishness causing us to pull back too fast on fiscal stimulus, and to raise interest rates too fast. That is, I think it’s more likely that economic events will drive fear rather than the other way around. That’s not to say that fear doesn’t provide an important negative feedback mechanism, I think it does, but I’m not convinced that psychology is the prime causal mover.

http://economistsview.typepad.com/economistsview/2010/05/shiller-fear-of-a-double-dip-could-cause-one.html

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