21 Ways to Stay in the Peace（8）

8. Reporting to Yourself
This exercise can help in healing fear and terror. Practice reporting events to yourself as if a circumstance you find
yourself in is actually a news story and you are the roving reporter. Announce exactly what your surroundings are and
what's happening "on the scene" at that very moment. Fear is always the result of projecting a re-creation of the past
into the now or the future. If you find yourself fearful, find the core belief and inquire: "Is it true that I need to be
fearful in this situation? What is actually happening right now, physically? Where is my body (hands, arms, feet, legs,
head)? What do I see (trees, walls, windows, sky)?"

Impersonalizing our stories gives us an opportunity to look at circumstances more objectively, and choose our
responses to what life brings. Living in our minds, believing our untrue thoughts, is a good way to scare ourselves to
death, and it can appear in form as old age, cancer, degeneration, high blood pressure, etc.