are two kinds of fear.

There's the kind of fear caused by something happening outside of you. For example, you're crossing a street, and suddenly you see an automobile bearing down on you at high speed.

That's a good kind of fear. It'll activate your instinct for survival, causing you to do automatically whatever is necessary to get yourself out of danger. And its effect on your body is minimal.

And then there's the kind of fear caused by something happening inside of you. For example, you become afraid when you hear a rumor that there will be extensive layoffs in the coming year.

Now that's a bad kind of fear. It'll paralyze your thinking, rendering you essentially helpless. Moreover, if sustained over a period of time, and it usually is, it'll ravage your body.

Now what is the fundamental difference between the two?

The first kind of fear is imposed upon you by something over which you have no control, something that's actually happening, something that poses an imminent threat of harm. Which means that you don't choose to be afraid, you instinctively are afraid.

But the second kind of fear is self-imposed, because it's your response to what is nothing more than a string of words that you decode and color according to your habitual state of mind. There's nothing that's actually happening, nothing that poses an imminent threat of harm.

Which means that you don't have to be afraid, you choose to be afraid.

Are you locked into that state of mind? No. You're the one who chose to make it habitual. No one else did. And you're the one who can unchoose to make it habitual. No one else can.

Think about it.