Fear, Obligation and Guilt

Often our lives are characterised by FOG: fear, obligation and guilt.  In many cases, this involves other people. That is what this blog post deals with.  It concerns how to limit fear to the unavoidable, remove obligation when it is incorrectly placed and replace guilt when it is unjustified. Fear Who are you afraid of?  Are family, friends or co-workers controlling you with your own fear?...

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Who Is Geoff Thompson?

The last time I mentioned the name of Geoff Thompson in this blog was in relation to a workshop I was running called Streetwise: How to Protect Yourself Against Aggression.  Geoff is a former bouncer and self-defence expert whose autobiography Watch My  Back has enjoyed tremendous success.  He has now branched out into other areas of writing. I mention him because I’ve spent the last...

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How to Be Brave: The Return

I’ve had a few positive comments and dozens of hits on a blog I wrote in July called How to Be Brave.  The gist of it was that it’s possible to overcome the feeling of fear by first of all acting as if you were not afraid.  If you can put on a good enough act, then the feelings will fall into place afterwards. While teaching a course in non-verbal communication recently, a...

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How to Be Brave

Captain Frederick Marryat (July 10, 1792 – August 9, 1848) was an English novelist, a contemporary and acquaintance of Charles Dickens, noted today as an early pioneer of the sea story. He is now known particularly for the autobiographical novel Mr Midshipman Easy and his children’s novel The Children of the New Forest. Why am I telling you this? Because it gives some context to one of the...

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