Have you ever noticed that you’re often most afraid when you are alone with your thoughts?

You can have scary thoughts about anything: lack of money, health, dying, your children’s welfare, etc. The list is a mile long.

We all have dreadful thoughts pop in from time: usually after dark and when we’re alone. I have discovered a mantra that neutralizes those thoughts. It’s a two word phrase: I’m Scared.

“I’m scared” interrupts the pattern of scary thoughts by acknowledging what it is that your thought machine has you feeling. You take away the thought’s energy by acknowledgement.

Perhaps a story will illustrate the tactic. In the movie A CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER, Harrison Ford plays a CIA analyst and is in a meeting with the President of the United States and some of his closest advisors. The President has a friend who has been murdered and it’s been exposed that he was associated with a big-time drug cartel. The topic of the meeting is how to address it to the media. It’s suggest by one advisor to downplay the incident. The President notices that Ford is uncomfortable with that answer. He encourages him to speak his mind and Ford’s character says, “If a reporter asks if you and Harden were friends, I’d say no, we were good friends. If they ask are you good friends, I would say, no, no, we’re lifelong friends. I would give them no place to go, nothing to report.”

When you acknowledge that you’re scared, you give your mind no place to go because you’ve gone to the place it intended.

Saying, “I’m scared” interrupts the thought pattern and gives your mind no further ammunition. Anytime you interrupt any thought, you create a space for peace of mind to enter.

Say “I’m scared” to yourself or aloud when you get a scary thought. You may have to say it a few times to get the ball rolling but with some practice, you’ll become adept at scaring away scared.

All the best,

John