Fear, anger and worry: these are the names of the biggest tyrants in our world today. Some would refer to them as deadly “viruses” of mankind.
Whatever you want to call them, these emotions have buried dreams, weakened our free will, destroyed our creative minds, ruined beautiful relationships, and put an end to careers, hopes and dreams.
The tainted innocence
As infants, all the way through till we are maybe five or seven years old (depending on our parents and upbringing), these emotions did not have a hold on us.
We were fearless, always happy, and had not a care in the world since everything was provided to us when we needed it.
But what happened to this carefree “immunity”? It was slowly compromised by periodic injections of negativity.
“You wouldn’t want to be begging for money and food, would you?”
“Are you sure you want to be a singer? It’s a lot of hard work!”
“You can’t possibly be the top violinist in the world. You’re Asian!”
“You will never stake up to your big brother/sister!”
These are examples of how self-doubt, limiting beliefs and fear of failure were slowly fed into our minds.
Fortunately, there is a way to block them out.
Emotions are fickle
Have you ever felt sad over something tragic, but ended up laughing when you watched a comedy on the television?
Did the event that caused your sadness go away? It didn’t. What changed was just your emotions.
Could it also be possible to be so sad, that even the funniest stand-up comedian would not be able to make you laugh? It is possible.
Could it be possible to cry tears of sadness and laugh at the same time?
Well, you might be crying before laughing or vice versa, but it is physiologically impossible to feel sad and happy at the same time.
Count your blessings
Here is a simple remedy for all your fears, anger, and worries: it’s called gratitude or gratefulness.
Our mind can only focus on one thing at a time and this is especially true about emotions.
So, focusing on what you are grateful for at that moment in time will help you overcome any negative emotions you might have at that point in time.
Does it make all your troubles go away? Of course not, but you will be in a different state of mind to solve whatever it is that is causing you to have these emotions in the first place.
Be intentional about it
Like any remedy for any disease, it takes time for us to see its results.
There is no miracle drug available now, and gratitude is no different. My prescription for the first dose would be to spend three minutes each morning focusing on things that you are grateful for.
You can start out with the clothes on your back, the roof over your head and so on.
Then increase the dosage to five minutes each morning. And continue to do this every day until being grateful is second nature to blocking out fear, anger and worry.
Iwin Tan is a certified Canfield trainer and a successful performance coach. He is also a LEAD Club coach with Leaderonomics Youth. He helps individuals live their lives to their best potential while gaining back their power to create their own future. To find out more about LEAD Clubs in schools across Malaysia spearheaded by Leaderonomics Youth, email us at youth@leaderonomics.com.
If you have been part of any of our previous DIODE camps as a camper and/or facilitator, and would like to share some of your most memorable camp stories or highlights with us, please email us at editor@leaderonomics.com. Submissions from parents or guardians who see significant transformation in their children as a result of these camps are strongly encouraged to write in too!
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