Our brains are hardwired to seek patterns and avoid change. We have evolved to love certainty.
When something is familiar we feel relaxed and confident. When we’re trying something different,
we get a surge of adrenaline that gives us sweaty palms and a tight feeling deep in our gut.
We go into our favourite restaurant - “Ahh nice.”
New owner, whole new menu - “AHH! Not nice!”.
I come home to my wife, Allie - I relax.
I come home to my wife and her new personal trainer Sven, I tense up.
We all know how this adrenaline feels.
Some call it fear or nerves or butterflies, some call it knots in the stomach, sadly some of us call it “that thing that stops me learning a language/taking on a new role/phoning that girl.
It’s such a shame we’re all taught it’s something bad, because it doesn’t have to be.
We only feel it at all because our physiology hasn’t caught up with civilised society.
Emotionally and intellectually we’re not primitive anymore, but we still have this Neanderthal part of our brain called the Amygdala that sets off alarm bells if we move too far away from the cave.
That’s why. (Please insert one of those horrible punctuation winks here)
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A few people have ask “Why face my fears? What’s in it for me?”
- It makes work easier. When you or your team face their
9 out of 10 fears on National Newfeeling Day, all those 6 out of 10 scary
things at work don’t seem so daunting. Extra sales calls - easy. Taking
on a new role - no worries. The big pitch presentation – hah, a doddle.
- see the GFc as a launching pad, not a crash site. OK, the economy is
a bit grim, but does that mean we have to write off the whole year? Let’s look back on
2009 and say “That was when I finally had a go at…” Now there’s a stimulus package.
- Follow your butterflies. The plans that scare us most are often the very things that
would give us incredible joy. Why not leap in and discover a larger life?
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Hi there, welcome to the Newfeeling Day blog.
My first entry just has to be a big thanks to Reader’s Digest for putting the Newfeeling story out to more people than I ever thought possible. Have a look at this!
Reader’s Digest Article
The story has already run in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. And when you’ve done something for Newfeeling Day, don’t forget to sign up to the Reader’s Digest competition for the most inspirational stories about people facing their fears or doing that thing they’ve always wanted to do.
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