Fear and Vision

Greetings from Ludington, Michigan, a beautiful town on Lake Michigan. It is also home to a few amazing Disc Golf courses, which are challenging, yet fun to play. There are certain parts of the course that are a bit overgrown. Because of my paralyzing fear of snakes, I am not fond of these patches. (The fear has its roots in childhood with several harrowing experiences, plus, a few years ago, I was caught in a snake migration; a truly creepy and frightful experience.)

While out on the course this week, I found myself looking down, scouring the nearby landscape for snakes, when for whatever reason, I looked up and out – out across a beautiful fairway, surrounded by majestic pines, with the beautiful shimmering blue of Lake Michigan as the backdrop. It was gorgeous. And, here I almost missed it.

I was reminded of the research by Barbara Fredrickson, Ph.D., on the effect that our emotions have on us; both the so-called positive emotions and the negative ones. I prefer to think of them as the comfortable and the uncomfortable emotions as each set has value to us, just in vastly different ways. For example, if I see a rabid dog racing towards me, I will likely feel fear (a negative emotion); however, in that moment, fear is not only not negative, but it is highly appropriate. The fear will trigger my sympathetic nervous system and will prepare me for fight or flight. In this manner, fear has what Fredrickson calls a “narrow and constrict” effect in that it narrows my focus. In the case of the rabid dog, this is a good thing as this would hardly be the time for me to be thinking about a homework assignment, for example. Positive emotions, on the other hand, have what Fredrickson calls a “broaden and build” effect in that they open our minds to new possibilities, opportunities, collaborative relationships, creativity, etc.

Out on the golf course, my fear clearly had a narrow and constricting result for me. I was literally missing the beauty and the opportunity to savor it. From that point on, I consciously balanced my sharp look out for snakes, with looking up and out to see the wonders of nature around me.

What are your examples of either “narrow and constrict” or “broaden and build”?