from Sawyer and into a dark place in my head. Instead of just being present and in
awe of my beautiful daughter, I felt afraid.
That’s how worries and fear hijack your mind and rob you of the magic and
wonder in your life. Brené Brown observed this exact phenomenon in her research
for her best-seller Daring Greatly. She found that feeling a worst-case scenario in
moments of joy (such as not being able to enjoy a hug with your child without
worrying about something bad happening to him) is an amazingly common
phenomenon. And why is it so hard for us to soften into joy? “Because we’re trying
to beat vulnerability to the punch,” says Dr. Brown.
When your mind takes you somewhere sad, dark, doubtful, or negative, you
don’t have to go with it. I love what Hein wrote to me: “99.999% of the time, it has
always been a fake reality that I had created in my head.”
When you find your inner voice becoming an “enemy,” as Hein and I have
experienced, it’s important to “stop worrying” and recognize that in those 5
seconds, you can reclaim control.