Fearproof Your Politics

Voting is one of the most important and cherished privileges we have as citizens. It is an expression of our free will to choose our leaders from the president to the local school board. When we cast our vote, we want our vote to be thoughtful, well-informed and to use our best instincts in making this important choice.

In an era of unprecedented political advertising to secure our votes, marketing experts know that people's choices are quite easily manipulated through a variety of clever ads, many of which use the ultimate weapon of persuasion--FEAR.

Fear is our most basic emotion of survival and when we are confused, in doubt and vulnerable, fear usually wins over reason, values and what appears to be our free will. Images of the Twin Towers collapsing on 9/11; the red phone ringing at 3:00 AM with "bad news" tied to our children's safety; pictures of terrorists being trained by Osama Bin Laden; an atomic bomb mushroom cloud--all instantly trigger a strong visceral response of fear. When fear is triggered, common sense, reason and wisdom are trumped by emotion. We seem to go unconscious when we are afraid and become susceptible to our own prejudices and belief systems as well as those of others.

To get around election rules and to be able to place the most fear evoking ads at arm's length from the candidate, "Swift boat style" ads have been funded by special interest groups outside the parameters of restrictions. This year will be no exception and groups will use the most blood curdling images and any means necessary to sway our votes through emotion in order for their candidate to win.

There are many real fears in this world that we want our leaders to address, but how do we tell when we are being informed of the best choices vs. manipulated to go against our best instincts and common sense? How do we immunize ourselves from the highly advanced advertising science of psychological manipulation so that we know in our hearts and minds that our vote is actually our vote and not the result of the primitive amygdaula stem of our brain overriding our reason and our hearts with fear?

How do we fearproof our politics and neutralize the fear tactics of all advertisers but especially the political ads in this important year of presidential politics? How do we sort through not only the fear charged ads but the highly opinionated, biased media of the right and left and find common sense again and not be duped by lies, distortions and exaggerations to win our votes.

In my book, Fearproof Your Life, I outline many suggestions for how to live a life not dominated by fear in a world that has become addicted to it. Below I will list a few of the ways in which we can develop an antidote to this fear mongering that has taken over the political process.

How to Immunize Ourselves from Fear Tactics

1. Know and Trust Your Self
2. Know the Difference between Fear as Information vs. Fear as False Evidence Appearing Real
3. Listen Deeply
4. Trust in the Power of Reflection

Know and Trust Your Self

When we are grounded in our true Selves we have a natural immunity to the world and its negative influences. We are able to be less reactive to others, to events and to circumstances that are out of our control. It is only when we identify with our ego thoughts that we go unconscious and react in a predictable and self-destructive manner. Knowing the difference between when we are grounded in our Being vs. our ego self, is perhaps the ultimate protection from the fear tactics of advertisers and politicians.

How do we know when we are in our true Self or our ego? In our true Self consciousness, we see life with more objectivity, compassion, understanding and non-judgmentalness. We also see it more truthfully rather than through the filter of our own past, our conditioning and our beliefs systems. When we are in touch with our true Self, we may still have our habitual reactions but we can observe them from a state of self awareness that frees us from reacting to our habitual thoughts and perceptions. The result is a feeling of deep inner peace and calm. This is often referred to as "being in the world but not of it."


Know the Difference Between Fear as Information and Fear as False Evidence Appearing Real (F.E.A.R.)

Fear is built into all living creatures as a mechanism for survival. It is called the "fight and flight response" that leads to a heightened state of alertness, energy, strength and focus. In animals this response protects them from attack and is called instinct, which allows them to sense when danger is near and to either flee or fight.

Humans have this same fear response built into our brains and our psyches but unfortunately, we also have the ability to create this response with our imagination--thought. As a matter of fact, most of our fears are false evidences appearing real, but our bodies respond to false fear in the exact same way as to real fear. So how do we tell the difference?

As I said earlier, when we are afraid, we often go unconscious, and operate on auto pilot. Fear is like an alarm clock that is there to wake us up, so that we can decide if the fear is "real" or imagined. That moment of awareness connects us to a more objective consciousness also known as reflection. When we understand this concept we are able to be awakened by fear and then go into a state of awareness where we have the power of discernment. 

While watching political ads or the news this is an extremely important skill to have to immunize ourselves from fear tactics. If we are connected to our true Self and in a state of awareness, we are connected to our wisdom--the ability to see past manipulation, logic and clever persuasion. Fear is a built-in guidance system to let us know when our ego has been hooked and to come back to our more intelligent inner true Self.


Listen Deeply


Deep listening is very different than you might expect. Deep listening is not listening to the content of what is being said. It is listening below the level of content to where the content is coming from. When someone is engaged in deep listening their mind is quiet and in a state of "still receptivity." In this state they are able to respectfully connect with the other person, be completely present, yet remain objective and true to themselves.

 Deep listening is analogous the way we listen to music. When we are deeply listening to the music, we are moved and affected because our intellect in not fully engaged, analyzing each note. We are just being impacted in a way that allows us to "take in the music"  fully and completely.

In the same way, when we listen deeply to the news or an ad, we are able to hear beyond the words and the content of the ad and sense intuitively where the ad or speech is coming from. Is the person being authentic or phony? Is the ad or talk coming from a truthful place. When we listen with our hearts rather than just with our intellect, we are able to discern fact from fiction.

Trust in the Power of Reflection

Reflection is the lost art of thinking for yourself. In order to make good, solid, heartfelt decisions when we go into the voting booth, we must learn to think for ourselves--to reflect rather than repeat and react. 

In our culture the intellect is valued as the ultimate route to understanding and knowing. Although our intellect is an extremely valuable tool, just like our computer, it is incapable of reflection and connecting to a deeper more creative intelligence. Reflection and insight is where the computer and all other inventions originated. 

Reflection, on the other hand, is a less valued type of intelligence in our culture, but it is the key to evolution, survival and good decision making. Reflection is what we do after we have taken in information, listened to all the facts, and then quietly let that information connect to a deeper intelligence. Some call this process "putting it on the back burner." It is where insights come to us in the middle of the night, in the shower, or while out for a run--when the intellect is not active. It is the part of our brain that assimilates and transcends the level of the intellect so that we can make heartfelt decisions that are wise. 

Einstein once observed, "mankind cannot solve its problems at the level of thinking that created the problems." He was referring to this type of thinking (reflection) that we are all capable of. 

This morning I was listening to talk radio and heard several guests commenting on the previous night's primary election. So many of their comments were straight out of the mouths of pundits and other media commentators. I could tell that the guests had not reflected on what they were saying because when challenged they got confused or rigid immediately. They weren't sharing their ideas, only rote repetitions of someone else's thoughts and opinions. Too many people are no longer thinking for themselves and instead are mimicking these pundits. 

By following these guidelines and being true to our Selves and our core values, we are expressing our real rights and privileges as voters in the democratic process. If we go unconscious and just react from our primitive brain of fear we will be susceptible to the fear tactics of forces in our society that would like to gain control for their own personal gain and to feed their egos. If we want leaders whose heart is in the right place, we must learn to listen and vote with our heart. 

Live Fearlessly,

Joe