Page 62 - Taming Your Gremlin A Surprisingly Simple Method for Getting Out of Your Own Way (Rick Carson)_Neat

muscle tension? Simply notice over the next few weeks. Just relax and
observe. Whatever you notice is fine. You need not judge (your gremlin will
do plenty of that). Relax and pay attention.

Fear

Fear can be an enormously powerful experience, but fear is nothing to

be afraid of. The physical experience of fear is an important signal—either
that there is present or imminent danger, or that you are in the world of
mind imagining that there is. If you notice a bull charging headlong in your
direction, fear will likely direct you to get yourself out of the pasture. Yet
the physical sensation of fear is no less real even if it is not so clearly well-
founded: your breathing shortens and quickens, your pulse rate rises, your

heart pounds harder, and adrenaline floods your system. Whether your fear
is engendered by real-life circumstances or a gremlin attack, it’s important
to notice your fear, to bring it into the light, and to experience it, if only
briefly. The line between fear and excitement is a thin one. More than one
professional entertainer has told me that embracing “stage fright”
transforms it into excitement, which actually energizes their performance.

There’s fear and then there’s fear. Few faced with the magnitude of an
event such as the collapsing World Trade Center towers on September 11,

2001, have the presence of mind to practice the exercise that follows.

But when you are plagued by less horrific fears and you have the time
and presence of mind to do so, these four simple questions can help. The
questions are: What’s so? So what? So what? What now? The rather
unremarkable example below arose with one of my clients quite recently.

What’s so? (Separate what you know with absolute certainty from
what you imagine.)

I saw my supervisor looking in my direction with a frown on her
face. I’m imagining she’s upset with me and is going to give me a

bad review.

So what? (Notice your catastrophic expectation.)