Fear manifests differently in the body versus the head. In the body, fear shows up as shaking, screaming, and jitteriness. In the head, fear produces three distinct signatures: binary thinking (red car or blue car, marry her or don’t), false ends (imagining a consequence as the end of the world without thinking “and then what?”), and the feeling that you must make a decision.
The decision-making signal is particularly revealing. We make thousands of decisions daily without thinking about them. When we feel like we “have to make a decision,” it means we’re scared of a consequence — scared of doing something wrong. The first thing to do in those moments is address the fear, not try to figure out the decision, because “the brain doesn’t figure out fear. It can’t. It doesn’t do it very well at all.”
Once the fear moves, the next most obvious thing becomes clear. You can’t see the full picture from inside fear, but you can always identify the next step once fear is felt and allowed to move through.
Related Concepts
- Fear creates binary thinking and false ends
- Binary thinking signals fear
- Bad decisions come from fear of emotions
- Do the next most obvious thing
- The brain creates false endings that paralyze action
- If you think you’re making a decision, you’re in fear