Steve Jobs APP for Fear

This article by Joe Robinson appeared in the Huffington Post this morning and I just had to share it. Have a great day!

Of all the Steve Jobs products that have become essentials of daily life -- iMac to iPod to iPhone -- the one that may be most needed is echoing virally around the Web in the form of his Stanford commencement speech: iCan. His advice to "stay hungry, stay foolish," and remember that, as mortal beings, we have "nothing to lose" has struck a nerve at a time when millions are up to their eyeballs in a babble of nonstop fear about what we can't do. He's reminded us that we can counter the fright fest with something we forgot -- courage, and our own wits.

The gloom-and-doom meisters have had their way for years now, freezing out belief and possibility with a steady dirge of dire forecasts. Jobs' message is a much-needed wake-up call. Yes, we have challenges, but we have it within ourselves to act despite our fears and rise above the naysayers and change phobics. Uncontested fear begets more fear. Like Franklin Roosevelt's exhortation that, "we have nothing to fear but fear itself," Jobs' speech tells us we can avoid the fear factor when we dig deep and rally self-belief over our insecurities.

Courage and self-belief are qualities we all have, but they often need outside stimulus to be activated. They can lie dormant for years like African killifish, whose eggs are buried in the ground and come to life only with the right amount of rain. Inspiration can rouse self-determination skills that trigger the risk-taking without which we can't move forward -- or be truly gratified.

Researchers tell us we can't satisfy our core needs to feel autonomous or competent, for example, unless we go beyond the familiar and do things that make us stretch. Our core psychological needs, says the University of Rochester's Edward Deci, author of Why We Do What We Do, are all about self-determination. The fulfilling life we want doesn't come from taking the safe road, but from what is challenging, reports Emory University brain scientist Gregory Berns (1).

As usual, Jobs' timing was impeccable. It's time to declare open season on fear and discover the courage to step into our futures without knowing the exact path they will take. It's time to break out the antidote to fear: risk. It's time to tune out the crystal-balling pundits and politicians and the incessant guessing about the calamity that's going to happen next. We're not psychics; we're adventurers. That's how we're made, from novelty-seeking brain neurons to big toes designed for marathon journeys.

Jobs' reference to the fact we can only connect the dots in retrospect hit the bullseye. Fear demands you know the whole journey before you've even embarked. If we have to know the end before we've even begun, we'll never risk or start anything. Joseph Campbell said the process of trial and error that is the human path is "like a tree growing. It doesn't know where it's growing next. A branch may grow this way and that way. If you let it be and don't have pressures from outside, when you look back, you will see that this will have been an organic development."

It's a choice between staying foolish -- not worrying what others think, taking the risks conventional wisdom says are dumb -- or staying in our bunkers. Foolish people are open to ideas wherever they come from. They're not afraid of making a mistake, since that's the nature of the learning process and all forward movement. They know that it's foolish not to make use of everything at our disposal to get the most out of our time on this planet. Foolishness short-circuits the left-brain rationality that says you can't do this and, instead, you say, iCan. Foolishness is freedom from fear. Fools are fueled by the most powerful motivator in life satisfaction -- intrinsic choice: doing what you like just to do it, not for a payoff. That's why fools have more fun.

To be more foolish and less defensive, we have to turn down the flood of fear and turn up inner strengths, such as locus of control, the belief that what you do and what happens to you depends on your choices. Overriding fear doesn't mean ignoring or avoiding it. That only eggs it on, since fear is a byproduct of unconfronted anxiety. The way out is managing it, reframing it, refusing to let what doesn't exist -- future projections, which is what most fear is -- to run your present.

Fear is a saboteur of bodies, minds, and workplaces, generating a host of stress-related conditions -- heart disease, back problems, stroke, burnout, irritable bowel, depression, diabetes, insomnia, paranoia, phobias, ulcers, damaged long-term memories, fractured attention spans and many more. Over 70 percent of doctor visits are stress-related. Companies squander $344 billion a year on stress-related issues, according to a study at Middle Tennessee State University. Fearful employees are two to three times more likely than non-fearful to have stress issues such as back pain or be taking tranquilizers (2).

Decisions made out of fear are never in your best interest. That's because no one thinks clearly when they're frightened. Fear activates the hub of your ancient emotional brain, the amygdala, which shuts off the rational thinking of the higher brain and defaults to a state of panic and catastrophic thoughts. Unless it's life-or-death, it's a false alarm.

When the amygdala is in charge, sanity isn't. You lose your ability to concentrate, to weigh pro and con, to see the big picture, to be creative, to see that the thoughts in your brain are distortions of a cornered caveman/woman. The stress spiral fixates on irrational thoughts until they appear real. Thinking is so impaired, it's hard to find a way out. In fact, resulting sadness has been shown to reduce the actual volume of your thoughts, according to Daniel Goleman in Social Intelligence.

Humans have an overactive fear reflex, dating back to the days when it helped the species survive sketchy hunter-gatherer days. But the amygdala wasn't designed for 21st century stressors, such as too much email, traffic, or wall-to-wall prognosticators of imminent apocalypse. None of those things is a life-or-death threat, but they can trigger fears and the stress response just the same, if they make you feel you can't cope (a subconscious message misinterpreted by the amygdala as Grim-Reaper time).

Researchers are getting closer to understanding the mechanism that runs the fear show, the amygdala, an organ which isn't all bad, since it also alerts you to real dangers. Scientists at the University of Iowa studied a woman with a rare disorder that destroyed her amygdala (3). They found that, without an amygdala, she couldn't experience fear. None of the usual suspects -- snakes, fright flicks or bugs -- scare her. She also can't recognize fear in facial expressions. The rest of her emotions, from joy to sadness, function normally. She just has no fear. What would you, could you, do without fear?

We know where that future is headed, so there's no time to waste in the foolish pursuit of an "insanely" fulfilling life, as Jobs might have put it.

Source of original article http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joe-robinson/steve-jobs-advice-_b_100...

Calm Your Tinnitus: The Less You Hear It, the Less You Fear It

Below is an excerpt from my e-book Calm Your Tinnitus: The Less You Fear It, The Less You Hear It.

I’d like to start with a story that initially may not seem like it has anything to do with your tinnitus, but please bear with me.

Some years ago I had a social service job helping mentally ill adults from Union County in Northern New Jersey.

Part of my duties involved visiting them at their homes to see how they were doing. Many of their residences were in very close proximity to Newark Liberty International Airport.

This busy transportation hub has an endless procession of takeoffs and landings 24/7, 365 days a year. The massive jet engines create a booming sound that literally rattles the windows of the nearby residences. It can be a jolting experience for a newcomer.

However, what I observed is that while I would cringe slightly whenever a plane roared overhead, the locals paid it scarce attention. They would continue with whatever they were doing, unperturbed.

You see it is in the nature of human beings to acclimate and make peace with their surroundings.

People who live and work near the elevated subways in New York City don’t pay attention to the loud clatter and squeal of the cars passing overhead, while it often startles visitors.

After a time of living near the rushing thunderous sound of Niagara Falls, it is normal not to notice it. The locals have no problem having a normal conversation with one another, while a visitor might find it to be a challenge.

Parents of infants and small children tune their hearing too-learning which sounds the little one makes are OK and which ones are distress calls requiring immediate attention. And as any parent can tell you, sometimes prolonged silence lets you know something is wrong too!

It is an innate potential of the human brain and nervous system to be alert to sounds that indicate a possible threat and to tune out non-threatening sounds.

Sounds perceived consciously or unconsciously as dangerous will be paid attention to-and this the dilemma of the tinnitus sufferer. As will be intentionally repeated during this report, “the less you fear it, the less you hear it.”

Hypnosis as you will learn is not really some form of magic. Rather it may help you do something that you already do naturally; notice some things and filter out others.

In this report you will learn why for most people suffering with tinnitus a mind/body treatment like hypnosis can offer significant relief of your distress. Hope is realistic!

Note: A complete version of this book is available for free in PDF format at http://www.calmyourtinnitus.com or for a nominal fee at all the major online booksellers

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Controlling Outcomes

Controlling Outcomes by Dick Sutphen

When you live with expectations and desires, it follows you want to control outcomes. You want things to unfold in your favor.

But you can't control outcomes in life. The best you can hope to do
is increase the odds through wisdom.

If you're desiring a particular outcome, step back and ask yourself, "What's the fear associated with the outcome?"

Explore the fear, including the worst that might happen if things did not turn out in your favor.

If you're committed to an outcome, the fear will be related to loss: The loss of love, loss of control, loss of finances, or the loss of self-esteem. Which applies to your situation?

Then ask yourself, "What if I could take the fear out of my desire?"

If there were no fear, the outcome would not matter. Logical.

So we're back to resolving fear, a subject I write about a lot, because I'm working on it all the time.

As New Agers, we believe we can create our own reality, and I know this to be true when it comes to finding happiness, fulfillment and living an abundant life.

Reality is created by the way we view and accept what is. But don't confuse this with controlling outcomes that affect other people.

In other words, if you want Leigh to fall in love with you, that is not within your power to control, no matter how many mind programming CDs you use.

The same is true with winning the beauty pageant, getting your book accepted by a major publisher, or desiring a beautiful sunset.

Expectations and the desire to control do not work. Both are fear-based emotions, which we incarnated to rise above.

Many New Agers believe in controlling their thoughts. But it can't be done. You can catch yourself when you're thinking negative. You can use thought-stopping techniques which condition you, over
time, to reduce fearful thinking. But out-and-out control of your thoughts isn't an option.

What you can control is your behavior -- your actions.

Mystics have always said a wise seeker learns to live without desire. Easier said than done. Probably not going to happen in this lifetime, but finding a self-actualized balance seems to me a worthy goal.

Reprinted by Permission
Copyright 2011 Success.biz