Cultivating a different attitude

Early last year I talked about my newly developed anxiety around flying.  In an effort to help me manage the problem better, later in the year I attended a “Flying without fear” course held out at Auckland Airport.  Today I thought I’d share a few of the things that I learned in the hopes that it might help other people with a fear of flying.

The course contained a lot of information – some of it I already knew, some I knew about but had forgotten, and some was entirely new (and very helpful).

Embracing the balance

Yesterday I was reminded yet again how much pressure is put on people to expect to feel ‘up’ all the time and that, if they feel ‘down’ for some reason, there’s something wrong with them.

Someone I was talking to had had it suggested to them they see a doctor because they weren’t feeling too good. Of course a doctor would have probably prescribed anti-depressants to “even out’ their mood.

The strange death of a stranger

It’s always something of a shock when well-known strangers like Charlotte Dawson kill themselves, although her death was back in 2014. I felt the same when Greg King suicided in November 2012.

They feel familiar and yet they’re not. You feel sad but there’s no relationship to mourn. Life goes on with nothing missing.

Perhaps there’s even a subconscious, yet obviously false, belief that someone so well-known would have something to live for. Everything even.