BY:DONALD SEVILLA
FEEDING OUR FEARS
Most everything we read and hear now in the internet and the news, highlights the negative impact of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. War is not good and we all know that.
While victories may be claimed, everyone ends up losing something.
The tensions lead to rising oil prices that make the markets panic and panic leads to more devastating consequences.
The fear and anxiety arising, disrupt daily life that leads to emotional rather than rational decision- making.
When people panic, reason ends and judgment is clouded.
Yet in all of these, there are those who profit from our misery and pain. There are gainers as there are losers.
Those few thrive in an environment of fear and when we react we succumb to their playbook. We become vulnerable.
When we line up in haste to fill our tanks with gas and snatch items from the grocery shelves for fear that supplies will run out,we are not helping to alleviate the situation.
We are adding up, creating a ripple effect that affects every aspect of our lives. We get focused on the negative, forgetting other opportunities exist to remedy our problems.
When a door closes, a window could open. For every problem there exists another solution.
Yet our primal instinct for survival often dictates what we are most likely to do. When we feel threatened we act accordingly.
So how then must we act? Go with the flow and do what others are doing or think long and hard and weigh our options with reason?
Thinking outside the box often brings good results as it broadens one’s horizons. Necessity creates grounds for innovation and better opportunities. Critical thinking leads to better decision-making than rash, emotional judgement calls.
The war in the Middle East will not last forever. How it escalates or ends depends on how our human nature plays out.
Yet we have been told when it started that our fuel reserves in the country are good for a least 50 days and the conflict is on its 4th week. But we are worried sick as we are feeding our fears more than we ought to.
Shall we be pessimistic or optimistic at how things turn out? Should we crack under pressure or be cool under fire?
At the end of the day how we react could determine our fate, while somehow, somewhere, some are quietly laughing their way to the bank!