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Kathy Doner, MD
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FEATURE ARTICLE
Once Upon a Time,
There Were Two Dogs.
A
lonely widower brought home two little puppies
to keep him company. The
next day his curious friend visited.
"They
are both really cute but I'm not
familiar with these two different breeds. Which one
is going to get larger
and stronger - the black one with white spots or
the white one with black
spots?"
The new
owner thought for a moment and replied, "Well,
I suppose, whichever
one I feed the most."
And so it is with fear.
These are difficult times. Whether
it is a sudden change in our finances and
worries about the future or concern about our nation's
leadership and
ultimate security, we instinctively react in fear.
We are programmed to feel
fear when we feel un-safe. It can be protective and
lead us to pay
attention, make plans, be smart, etc. But what if all fear does is make
us anxious?
What if
we feel paralyzed by stress? What if it snowballs
into behaviors of insomnia, short tempers,
over-eating, drinking etc.? And what if we "feed" the
fear? Well, like one
of the dogs, it just gets larger and stronger. The point is - we do have a choice.
We can feed
the fear by listening to and reading sensationalized
stories over and over. It's called "The News" and
it's usually about events over which we have absolutely
no control. It's
also called the awful story-lines we repeat in our
heads. These old tapes
are in our sub-conscious minds, often since childhood,
and can cause phobias
and generalized anxiety. What to do?
There is
no use denying that the external events are real
in the moment. But if we want to respond with
inner strength and wisdom then we
have to stop feeding one dog and start feeding the
other! We have to turn
off "The News" after we've heard the story
once. And we have to learn how to
turn off the mind's negative chatter. How
have you fed the dog of strong inner peace in
the past? By feeling a part of the vastness of
Nature? By being comforted by the solid support
of friends and family? By appealing to a Higher
Power? By reflecting that "This
too shall pass. I will survive!" Or by cultivating
the calm stable place
inside of you so you can "Be in the world, not
off the world?"
Perhaps now is the time, on a daily
basis, to feed this dog. Then, no matter
what happens, your calm confidence is stronger than
fear! |
Announcing!
• Is
this refuge permanent - will it always be there for
you?