Fear has its place, it compels us to act. But we need to be careful about how much power we give it.
We’ve all experienced fear. It tightens the chest, lifts the hair in the back of the neck, makes the eyes look fast one way or another. It compresses us with high alertness, like a spring ready to jump.
And then there is the hormonal cascade. The impulse to flight, fight or be frozen appears depending on the perceived strength of the threat.
It’s useful. it’s important. It can save our lives in the presence of a real physical threat.
But what happens when the threat is intangible? We have this tendency to project into the future to see outcomes of a certain situation, and sometimes we perceive closed outcomes, things that we don’t want. And we feel the same tightening of the chest, the same hormonal release in a moment where there is nothing to do, because the threat is not here now. This is called pre-occupation for a reason.
Now, when we are about to run from the tiger, the body enters in survival mode and is willing to sacrifice many useful and even vital functions. Same to our intelligence, it goes out the window. We become a spring ready to jump.
What happens when we worry because of subtle, possible or future problems? Same thing. Only that in this case, the sacrifice might become the problem unless we take measures to control the stress.
Permanent stress is the malady of these days.
To be able to concentrate in the present tasks and get anything done, we need to get a grip over our own emotions and reign the wandering mind that keeps going into the future or the past,
How to do it? There are many ways to clear the mind, but here is a simple trick: smile.
The act of smiling releases tension and produces endorphins. Fake it till you make it really pays of at times.