The other day, I was thinking about Mark Twain’s famous quote about fear, which reads, “Some of the worst things in my life never happened”.
Many of us run the risk of living life in fear and worry – the worry of what might happen in the future, in all scenarios. It’s understandable, given the input we’re getting from news and social media platforms these days, but it does mean we live in a constant state of fight or flight, which is as far from contentment or the peace that we all desire as it can be.
It can also drive us to make bad, knee-jerk reactions instead of considered, wise choices. A perfect example of this is encapsulated in a Middle Eastern fable that W. Somerset Maugham once retold. It goes something like this:
A servant in Baghdad sees Death in the marketplace and becomes terrified. He begs his master for a horse so he can flee to Samarra. The merchant agrees. Later, the merchant encounters Death and asks him why he had frightened his servant so badly. Death replied, “I didn’t threaten the servant. I was merely surprised to see him in Baghdad, because I have an appointment with him tonight in Samarra.”
We can’t always stop worries or fears from rising in us. But when they do, the best way to combat them is to first recognise that we’re actually in fight or flight mode. From there, we can stop, take stock and recalculate. Do I want to move forward in this state, or not? This will take us into a considered state rather than an automatic one – the basis for all change.
Practice makes perfect. And it’s through stopping ourselves and realising what is happening that we can choose to close down our inner autopilot – a time to calm us and realise the world is, in truth, perfect the way it is. It’s only in how we’re choosing to see that the issues arise. Good luck.