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Hi and welcome to my blog. I’m Jeff Aronson, TheFearMonsterSlayer. In this and future blogs I’ll share some simple, effective and fun tools for managing fear and anxiety. So, welcome aboard!

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THEFEARMONSTER OF LONDON

8/5/2014

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Londoners during the Blitz
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"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."--Franklin D. Roosevelt

Malcolm Gladwell, in his recent book, David and Goliath, describes a very interesting observation about how the British citizenry dealt with fear during the German Blitzkrieg bombing of London during World War Two. I really like Gladwell's books as they challenge conventional wisdom about why and how things happen. They're all on my recommended books list (They're also on THEFEARMONSTER'S banned books list).

In the years leading up to the war, the British government knew that the German Air Force would bomb London and that there was nothing they could do to stop it. The British military command predicted that a sustained bombing would kill an estimated 600,000 people, wound another 1.2 million and create mass panic.

Plans to build a massive network of underground bomb shelters were abandoned because it was feared that people would never come out of them. And several psychiatric hospitals were set up outside the city limits to treat what was expected to be a flood of psychological casualties.

In 1940 the attack began. For eight months, beginning with 57 consecutive nights of devastating bombardment, German bombers dropped tens of thousands of bombs and more than a million incendiary devices, fire bombs. Forty thousand people were killed, another forty-six thousand were injured, and a million buildings were damaged or destroyed.

But then an interesting thing happened. Every prediction about how Londoners would react was wrong. The panic never came! The psychiatric hospitals were switched to military use because no one showed up. Many women and children were evacuated to the countryside but people who needed to stay in the city mostly stayed. As the German assaults increased, authorities began to observe, to their astonishment, not just courage during the bombing but something closer to indifference.

People went on about their business, kids played in the streets and went to school and life went on pretty much as usual. It became astonishingly clear that the bombing didn't have the effect everyone thought it would. So why was that?

At the end of the war a study was done to solve the puzzle. It was found that the morale of the community depends on the reaction of the survivors. The so-called "near misses", people who feel the blast, are horrified by the destruction and carnage, may be wounded but survive, and are left with a powerful reaction associated with the bombing. They may continue to experience what's called post traumatic stress disorder or PTSD.

Then there are the "remote misses" who make up a far greater percentage of the population. People who hear the sirens, see the bombers overhead and hear the explosions. But the bomb hits some distance away. They survived the second or third time that happens, they experience a feeling of excitement tinged with a feeling of invulnerability. Their reaction is exactly the opposite of that of the "near misses" who are traumatized. A remote miss creates a feeling of invincibility.

In recollections of Londoners who lived through The Blitz, countless people described feeling happy and triumphant, exhilarated and invulnerable. One Londoner, who had been bombed out of his house two times, refused to be evacuated to the countryside. He said, "What and miss all this? Not for all the gold in China!"

The study concluded that  we are not only liable to fear but also afraid of being afraid. Conquering that fear produces exhilaration and a self-confidence that is "the very father and mother of courage." Soldiers going into combat of course fear dying or being maimed but right behind that is the fear of not showing courage and letting their buddies down.

Courage is not the absence of fear but doing something courageous in the face of fear. It's what we earn when we get through the tough times and realize they aren't so tough at all.

Next Time: FACING DOWN THEFEARMONSTER
 


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VISHNU AND THEFEARMONSTER

7/25/2014

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Paralyzed at first, 
Falling into step,
I dance with my fear.
                                    --Fear Haiku
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I heard this story from a colleague, Bill O'Hanlon, who says he's not sure where he heard it but that it's a good tale about facing fear.

Vishnu, who's kind of the top god among Hindu gods, lives with the other gods in this great hall with a massive oaken door.. One day he has to go away for a big meeting, some kind of god convention. And he's worried about leaving the other gods alone because every time he goes away they get into some kind of mischief. But they reassure him that they'll lock the great oaken door and be OK until he returns. Finally, Vishnu reluctantly agrees to go and he leaves.

Everything's going OK for several hours when suddenly there's this great banging and shaking of the big oaken door. Frightened, one of the gods finally goes down to open the door a crack and standing there is this huge, scary looking, slimy, menacing monster. The god jumps back and the monster roars, steps in and starts to grow.

Now the other gods come down and become terrified too as the monster keeps growing and roaring, "I AM THEFEARMONSTER AND I ROAM THE LAND LOOKING FOR PEOPLE TO SCARE!" The gods are screaming in fright, running around looking for places to hide.

As it happens, Vishnu's meeting ends early and he comes home and hears roaring and screaming from the castle and sees the great door open. He steps inside and sees the terrified gods and the monster growing up and sideways, its head to the ceiling. Vishnu immediately knows it's THEFEARMONSTER.

The monster roars at Vishnu but instead of cowering, he welcomes the monster and invites him to sit down. And the monster starts to shrink. So the other gods become a little less afraid and cluster around Vishnu. Vishnu offers the monster food and drink and commands his servants to bring it whatever it wishes as the monster continues to shrink.

Vishnu starts to laugh and tell jokes. Now the other gods become more bold and begin to poke fun at the monster as it gets smaller and smaller. Vishnu tells them not to be rude to their guest and the other gods realize that the monster is only their own fear. By this time THEFEARMONSTER is the size of a mouse and tries to escape but can't get out.

The gods decide to keep him around as a reminder to not let fear get out of hand. And Vishnu tells them two things to remember: One, don't feed the monster, and two, keep a sense of humor.

Next Time: THEFEARMONSTER OF LONDON

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    Jeff Aronson

    Hi and welcome to my blog. I’m Jeff Aronson, TheFearMonsterSlayer. In this and future blogs I’ll share some simple, effective and fun tools for managing fear and anxiety. So, welcome aboard!

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