I don't necessarily agree that anxiety and the in…

I don't necessarily agree that anxiety and the in fear are are the same thing. There's no question that the anxiety that people walk around with is caused by a fear. But I think the real term to be used is not fear but it's rather the unknown and the lack of control that people have in most situations. Therefore they're anxious because they have a fear of the unknown or fear of what might happen that they do not have control over but that is more a state of mind than it is a an emotion. In other words if you if I sit and say that I have control and I am responsible, then I have no fear because I it is not unknown to me and it is not beyond my control. And one of the principles that I live by is that everything is my fault which gives me full control over whatever it is that I'm doing. It is the people that say that it's your fault or it's not my fault those are the people that have relinquished control and have the anxiety and the have the fear. There are always unknown things that are happening and will happen and it is in every person's ability to withstand that unknown by avoiding it then going somewhere else or by confronting it then going into the mouth of the tiger so to speak and they have their choice and. Once they make their choice to decision is made and the anxiety and fear is gone.

— from The Heart in the Cockpit (Emotion/Awe/Anxiety/Regret/Empathy)

In the book

Anxiety. I do not fully agree with the textbooks that anxiety and fear are the same thing. To my mind the real culprit is not fear but the unknown and the lack of control — and that makes anxiety more a state of mind than an emotion. One of the principles I have lived by my whole life is that everything is my fault, because saying so hands me back control: if it is mine, it is not unknown and not beyond me, and the moment I make the decision, the anxiety and the fear are gone. […] To my mind the real culprit is not fear but the unknown and the lack of control — and that makes anxiety more a state of mind than an emotion. One of the principles I have lived by my whole life is that everything is my fault, because saying so hands me back control: if it is mine, it is not unknown and not beyond me, and the moment I make the decision, the anxiety and the fear are gone. The research agrees more than it lets on: anxiety is the perception of a threat that is uncertain, unpredictable, maybe not even real — uncertainty itself is its prime cause, the brain on high alert against a danger it cannot name. — The Heart in the Cockpit (Emotion/Awe/Anxiety/Regret/Empathy)

First, that I will be wrong some of the time — nine right and one wrong, like everyone — so the answer is simply to make more decisions, faster, and let the good ones accumulate. Second, that everything is, in a sense, my fault — and that this is good news, because if it is mine, then it is within my control, and the fear of it disappears the moment the decision is made. So decide. — Decisions & Choices (Decision/Choice/Focus/Forethought/Consequences)

Also belongs to

Related