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Emotion Versus Reason

 

David Ropeik, author of the forthcoming book, "How Risky Is It, Really? Why Our Fears Don't Match the Facts", has written an interesting article on risk. He points out that the response many Americans had to 9/11 - not  to fly - cost them their lives. In a USA Today article he says more than one-thousand people were killed in motor vehicle crashes in the months after 9/11 than was normal for that time period. "That's a third as many people as were killed in the attacks themselves," he says, "dead, because of a response to risk that was informed more by feelings than the facts."

 

If you are driving instead of flying because you believe driving is safer, you need to reconsider the matter. A mere 10.8 miles of Interstate driving carries the same risk as taking a flight. If you understand that one 1080 mile trip by car equals one hundred flights, you can see why so many people were killed when they chose to drive rather than fly.

Though flying is far safer, it may not feel safer. And this is where we can help. We can literally save your life. We can help you feel comfortable enough about flying that you travel by plane instead of by car.

 

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Reader Response To "Brace For Impact"

 

One reader wrote, "I think the media needs heroes that are made out to be unique from all others. That is what makes people watch these type of shows. This point is interesting in itself and related to the fear of flying. A fearful person imagines the opposite, that they are on the one flight that is uniquely doomed and that these particular pilots do not know what to do....and that this particular plane is defective...etc.. That this one flight that you are on is the one out of millions that will crash. Same psychology, I guess, just the opposite of the 'hero' idea."

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Analysis Of A Personal Breakthrough

 

Captain Truman Cummings, who started the course at Pan Am in 1975, used to tell the story of a man who was standing on a cliff when the earth gave way. He began to slide down a steep embankment toward certain death hundreds of feet below. But he was able to grasp a root sticking out of the side of the embankment. He held on for dear life. He knew, of course, that he could not hold on forever. Reflexively, he said "God, HELP me." To his amazement, a voice said, "Yes." And the man said, "Is that you, God". The voice said, "Yes." And the man said, "Well help me then." The voice said, "Yes, I will help you". The man said, "OK, tell me what to do." The voice of God said, "Let go!" To which the man replied, "Is there anyone else up there?"

 

"I would like to share with you an interesting experience I had recently. For me, it represented a major breakthrough. For the first time in my mind, I consciously went from feeling panic to feeling calm simply by choosing to trust the last second, rather than distrusting the next second. In other words, my mind to date has been preoccupied with always worrying about the next second. In wanting to control every new moment as a result not knowing the outcome, I realize that I am in the constant state of fear. I realize and own that I operate on nervous energy each day which is costly and taxing to my well-being. This pattern of behavior has been a long habit or treadmill so to speak. I am only just beginning to make sense of it or having some awareness around it."

 

"Since doing your program, my awareness has improved. Recently I was faced with an uncomfortable situation whereby I experienced a shift in my consciousness. I realized that my fear is not necessarily restricted to flying. I live in a "state of mind" that is fearful about living my existence."

 

"Recently, I attended a conference. My first challenge was finding a car park. To get to the conference on time, I had no other option but to park in an underground car park. The car park was busy. As I proceeded to venture further down each level, my anxiety increased. I felt trapped. The ceilings were very low. The air was hot and chocked with fumes. I felt the mass of weight above me being underground. By this stage, I was four levels underground and a long way from the entrance. Lifts were not a viable option as I had no idea where they were and reaching ground level or street level felt like endless seconds. With all this on my mind, I panicked. I don't know what kept me sane, but I desperately wanted to abandon my idling vehicle in order to escape the fear by running back the way I came. Somehow, I managed to park the car. At this stage, I was overcome with adrenalin and anxiety. I was one split second away from publicly freaking out. But I didn't. Instead of taking the lift, I walked back up the road ramps. The thought of entering a crowded lift was the last thing on my mind. My mind was exhausted and my body overheated."

 

"I left the car park feeling frazzled. The next challenge was 2 hours on the 5th floor of a high rise building. I opted for the stairs and avoided the lift. When I got inside the conference room, the place was hot and crowded. The speaker announced the air con was broken. I struggled to breath, but managed to breathe slowly. During the conference, my thoughts were not on the speaker. I was studying in my mind all the ways in which I could escape the room and thereby alleviating my fear of being trapped in this physical maze. The scenarios in my mind played over and over. Several times, I almost got up to leave in a hurry. Instead, I chose to sit with the fear. Noticing the people in the room, everyone else was focused calmly on the speaker. It was then that I realized that I was the odd one out. That my hard wiring and perception about life was different and dysfunctional from others. I began asking 'Why do I struggle?' and 'Why do others cope so easily?'"

 

"Like the ocean shore, the waves of fear repeated to wash over me. I sensed they were a cycle, that would come and go. It was at this point that I thought about trying something different. Instead of thinking or worrying about the next wave, I focused on the fact that I survived the last wave and that the same outcome was possible when the next wave appeared. Immediately, my body felt a sense of calm. It was as though the danger was over. I kept focusing on the fact that I survived the last second and that each second is survivable. I could cope with this fact in mind. The next second was no longer important, because I easily and comfortably survived the last second. Therefore, I realized that my mind has the ability to play tricks with the concept of time. That somewhere in time, some unpleasant experience triggered a thought and feeling of "what will happen next"? It seemed that I have been fearful of that thought ever since. That the illusion I create in my mind are so believable and powerful. I feel that I am only now beginning to remember what life was like before that fearful thought took over my perception and attention."

 

 

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