Don't attack the behavior. It is the end result of the inner environment of thoughts, beliefs and feelings, so change those and the behavior shifts on its own.
Where it appears 1
Connections
Themes and ideas
More insights from this episode
- All the walls are the same wall
Once you break through one or two self-imposed limits, you see that your walls about money, friendship, love and work are the same wall, imagined in the same way.
- Wake from catastrophes like nightmares
We recover from a terrifying nightmare within seconds of realizing it was a dream, yet we give full power to waking worst-case daydreams just because we are awake. We can wake up from those…
- We change by being moved, not informed
Self-improvement through accumulating information has limits. We actually change by being impacted emotionally, which is why fiction and storytelling, not facts, have carried wisdom since…
- Self-study can turn neurotic
Constant introspection into what you think and feel is valuable but can quickly become neurotic and self-absorbed. Sometimes a story is needed to remind you of a world beyond your own head.
- Dreams are the safest arena for fear
The conscious mind blocks certain emotions such as fear, but in dreams those defenses are down. A lucid dream lets you walk straight into a fear you could never safely recreate in waking…
- The fear beneath the fear
Samantha's fear of being committed turned out to be a fear of being the one who needs help. For a lifelong helper, receiving support was the unfamiliar, frightening thing.