Gift of Fear

[Hermes]

All this sounds very sensible to me.

 

A reviewer said:

 

He (G. de Becker) also says to stop watching the news. It only generates needless worry and gives one a distorted view of the world. I have been teaching these same concepts for years as a black belt in karate, so it was refreshing to read them from someone else. I avoid newspapers and TV news--it only darkens our view of the world. It only makes crime seem worse. Give up news for two weeks and notice how your outlook improves.

 

A book called The Gift of Fear by Gavin de Becker

 

Physical Violence

Many consider pushing or hitting a major clue that your partner is capable of violence—but Gavin says it's more than that. "It is the end of the mystery. Being hit is conclusive. It's over. The assessment is done," he says. "Being hit doesn't work in relationships, and it usually doesn't get better."

 

Symbolic Violence

Symbolic violence is the destruction of objects to intimidate the other person. " The destruction of tearing up wedding pictures. You come home and the wedding gown is torn up," he says. "[if someone throws] a television out a window, the message is, 'I can throw you out the window.'"

 

Fast-Paced Relationships

If you think you could be in a dangerous relationship, look back at when the other person began discussing marriage, moving in together and having children. "When the pace is accelerated like that in the beginning, that is itself a control strategy," he says. "And women feel uncomfortable and they'll tell you: 'Yeah, I felt it was a little bit fast, but what could I do? He loved me so much.'"

 

Persistence

If he won't take no for an answer, it's not because he's smitten. "Anybody who doesn't hear the word no is trying to control you," Gavin says. "Persistence does not mean you are special. Persistence means he is troubled."

 

Gavin says the word "no" is different for men and women. "When a man says no, it is the end of a discussion. When a woman says no, it is the beginning of a negotiation," he says. "A woman who buckles there ... is likely to buckle again and again and again. And he learns when you say no you don't mean no."

 

Gavin says some women misinterpret persistence as flattery. "What do most women do with persistence is they say: 'Well, he calls me so often. He writes to me so often. He's always talking about me. He's always getting me gifts,'" he says. "Gifts like a car that he owns, he controls—he's got the navigation system on. Gifts like a phone [so] that he can tell where you are, that he can always reach you."

[Seraphim]

This is the precise reason I have not watched the news or read a paper in years. Now if I could get my husband to do the same we would be in business..........LOL..........

 

I hate the constant stream of negativity and violence, it wears on my very soul.

[Hermes]

I agree Victoria.

 

 

And this is at the heart of the matter:

 

Fear is helpful and safety-oriented whereas worry and anxiety are not helpful and related to phantom 'possible' events that often don't happen. To that degree, worry and anxiety are distracting away from real fear signals that could help her.

 

From:

 

link removed

[Seraphim]

Yes people need to focus on real fears that are put in perspective and not be rattled by "sensationalism".

[Jeen]

Wordsworth

"What are fears but voices airy?

Whispering harm where harm is not.

And deluding the unwary

Till the fatal bolt is shot!"