When you are afraid, you are easier to manipulate. It is not by accident that social engineers often keep people in a state of fearfulness, since they are easier to control that way. When you are afraid, you often exaggerate the threats that are in front of you and imagine consequences worse than what any social engineer can devise. You become your own worst enemy.
Since fear can be infections and addictive, combating it requires changing your lifestyle and thinking. You will need to trust your own gut, rather than your fearful heart or your paranoid mind. You will have to stop the thoughts before they begin running through your head like a hamster on a wheel going nowhere. Replace the fearful thoughts with those based on facts and what you know for sure. Rely on what you actually see, rather than what you assume you see. In time, your level of fear will drop, along with your vulnerability to being manipulated. When the manipulators speak, ask yourself ‘what did they actually say?’ They often speak cryptically, so that your mind will connect the dots and draw the wrong conclusion. If you listen carefully, you will pick up on their use of ‘weasel words’ and avoidance. Look at their body language. Body language often tells you more than the words do.
You do not have to live in fear. You can move past it, if you are willing to tell yourself the truth and trust your gut.
Best Regards,
Jeff Murrah
