Whether it is anxiety, fear, anger, sadness, etc; most of us know that experience when we are filled with an inconvenient and undeniable feeling. Imagine that feeling as an uninvited person who is getting into your car. Imagine that you are driving a car, and then that familiar uninvited feeling shows up, be it spontaneously, as a reaction to something you did, or something someone else did. Regardless of the cause, that ‘person’ is now in your car. You then have a choice. You can slide over and give him the wheel. With him driving, you are subject to his choices. Ask yourself, how good is his judgment? How good a ‘driver’ is he? Do you want to live with the consequences of his choices? In my experience, anger is a pretty reckless driver that leaves a lot of destruction in his path. Depression and fear both have warped perceptions and impaired judgment. Your second choice is to hold onto the wheel. You tell your uninvited guest that he has to sit in the passenger seat. You may not have invited him, you can’t make him leave, but you don’t have to let him drive. He may make all the suggestions he wants (“run that guy over!” “that guy tried to hit you!”) but with you driving, it is up to you whether to take his advice or not. You can even choose to simply wait until he leaves. Do nothing, go nowhere, and wait him out. He will eventually get out of the car.
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“Fear is the mind killer. Fear is the little death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past, I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone, there will be nothing. Only I will remain.” [i]
[i] Frank Herbert, Dune (New York: Berkley Books, 1965), 8.
