Managing Your Personal Fear
Donna Peters interviews strategist, Reza Firouzbacht, on the concept of the extremely timely topic, managing FEAR. Uncertainty has shaken our sense of health, community, security and livelihood. Many of us feel we lack control. Reza encourages us to view fear as a signal, rather than as a negative emotion. Fear is a primal instinct and an important signal that needs our attention. It's a lighthouse on whether or not we have accounted for both the data and our gut instinct to take the right actions. Fear is a signal that says, "Caution. Pay attention." We then must ask "what is in our control and what is out of our control in the situation?" For what's in our control, "what are we going to do about it?"
To manage fear, Reza pulls upon his varied experiences as a:
young boy growing up during the revolution and bombing raids in Iran
student of biology and neuroscience
scenario planning expert
champion of meditation to calm the mind
The right mindset is critical to acknowledging, processing and addressing our fears in a rational way. With a rational mind, we can process the fear: Is it False Evidence Appearing Real? Is it an overstated fear? Is it an understated fear?
Reza recommends meditation as the first best step to calming the nervous system so that we can think rationally through what we can and cannot control. And then take action on what we can control by naming that which we cannot control. Reza recommends Tara Brach's Facing Pandemic Fears with an Open Heart.
