…CERTAINTY DOES!

So that’s what Daniel Gilbert said last week in Thursday’s Op-Ed section of the New York Times. Well, at first that was a mind blower for me, but when I thought more about it, it actually made a great deal of sense.Daniel backed up his article with a lot of good research. He started by reminding us of Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s famous line, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself,” during the Great Depression. And then he went on to say how psychologists and economists have conducted extensive research to show that the very rich are generally no happier than 99% of us. That is, of course, if you are not in the breadlines and worrying where your next meal is coming from. That is something else.

He then gives a number of examples of how the issue of “uncertainty” is what really makes people fearful. It is the anxiety of “not knowing” what is happening next that throws people into fear and depression. Think about it.

Daniel shared an experiment done by researchers in the Netherlands who gave subjects a series of 20 shocks. One group knew that they were going to get 20 intense shocks. The other group was going to get 20 shocks as well, but 17 were going to be mild and the other 3 were going to be intense. They just didn’t know WHEN they were going to get those intense shocks. The result was that the second group sweated more and had much more anxiety than the first group who knew they were always getting those intense shocks. The reason was this – people feel worse when something bad might occur than then something bad will occur.

So is he saying that we feel better when we know the truth rather than wondering about what might happen? And the answer is yes. Rather than waiting, in anxious anticipation, we would rather get the news, cry for a while, and then get on with doing whatever needs to happen next.

So how does that apply to Massive Abundance? Once we know the demon – in this case, uncertainty, then we can look forward to the outcome of what it is that concerns you, and know that we will be able to make the best of it, some way, some how.

Face your fears squarely, know that the right answers will come, and that you will be able to handle whatever comes in your path. That is Massive Abundance!

STEP 5 – BE OPTIMISTIC