Thoughts That Make You Go Hmm on... Fear

“Anxiety is a thin stream of fear trickling through the mind. If encouraged, it cuts a channel into which all other thoughts are drained.”
Robert Albert Bloch, American screenwriter, “Psycho,” “Psycho II”

 

“We usually learn faster from pain than from pleasure. Strong dislikes are acquired faster than strong likes. In relationships, trust is easy to lose and hard to regain. Something bad about a person is better remembered than something good, which is why negative ads dominate political campaigns.”
Rick Hanson, Hardwiring Happiness: The New Brain Science of Contentment, Calm, and Confidence

 

“It is not death or hardship that is a fearful thing, but the fear of hardship and death.”
Epictetus, Discourses

 

“The ego is an important psychological structure that plays an important role in a human being’s dealing with the world, but it is not ultimately who we are. In fact, the ego can create powerful blockades of pride, shame, and fear that prevent too many people from opening themselves up to love and healing.”
Eben Alexander, Living in a Mindful Universe: A Neurosurgeon’s Journey into the Heart of Consciousness

 

“Terror closes the ears of the mind”
 Sallust, Ancient Roman historian, and politician

 

“Fear is always an anticipation of the future, an imagination. Notice what happens to your sense of trust and well-being, your belief about the world.”
Jack Kornfield, A Path with Heart: A Guide Through the Perils and Promises of Spiritual Life

 

“Worry is a by-product of fear. And to live life with a constant, underlying fear of future pain is not to live at all. Fear and worry, more than anything else, are keeping people imprisoned and caged within the walls of their own imagination.”
Joshua Benavides, Break the Worry Habit: How to Stop Worrying and Start Living in the Flow

 

“I am an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened.”
Mark Twain

 

“Apocaholics (the word is Gary Alexander’s — he calls himself a recovering apocaholic) exploit and profit from the natural pessimism of human nature, the innate reactionary in every person. For 200 years pessimists have had all the headlines, even though optimists have far more often been right. Arch-pessimists are feted, showered with honors and rarely challenged, let alone confronted with their past mistakes.”
Matt Ridley, The Rational Optimist: How Prosperity Evolves

 

“Our doubts are traitors; and make us lose the good we oft might win; by fearing to attempt.”
William Shakespeare, Measure For Measure

 

“New York University’s Dr. Marc Siegel explains in his book False Alarm: The Truth About the Epidemic of Fear, because nothing could be further from the truth: Statistically, the industrialized world has never been safer. Many of us are living longer and more uneventfully. Nevertheless, we live in worst-case fear scenarios.”
Peter Diamandis, Abundance: The Future is Better Than You Think