It comes from the religious upbringing of my childhood. It’s astonishing how it has imprinted on me, even though I consciously rejected it in my teens. The Book of Revelation. And of course The Time of Trouble is coming, isn’t it? Persecution of the righteous, of God’s chosen people. Flee to the mountains!
And nuclear war. That was a pervasive background hum in my childhood. I remember thinking that I shouldn’t have children because why subject them to the horrors that were surely coming?
Money beliefs. These probably comes from residual, subconsciously passed-along subliminal beliefs from my parents, learned from their parents who experienced The Great Depression, and of course their own experiences as children themselves. Hunker down, be thrifty, there’s never enough and if there is enough now there won’t be in the future, probably, so hunker down. Sensible shoes!
I manufacture my own doomloops today. Political trends. Stupid economic policies creating inflation and possible economic crashes. Authoritarianism everywhere. Wars.
What IS this?
You see what you’re looking for, I guess. And what I see might even be real!
This is fear. All fear. Fear of dying. Fear of physical suffering at the hands of others. Fear of not having “enough.”
Interesting how all of those fears are so ill-defined, so woolly. They can mean anything. They can be anything I want them to be in the moment where I choose to feel bad.
When doomlooping, stop. Say to yourself, “Well, that’s a thought. There are other thoughts.” And then think a thought along the lines of gratitude, abundance, and clarity.
When you’re in the ditch, your first job is to get out of the ditch. Do so by focusing your attention on the good, on the specific, on gratitude.