I found a finger in my bag this morning.

I reached in to grab a pen at the bottom of my rucksack.

I found something firm but squishy.

A human finger. Severed.

My heart sank.

Had an eccentric biology student dropped it in when I was on the bus earlier?

I pulled it out. My heart pounding. A three-day-old carrot.

This wasn’t the first time I’d confounded something terrifying for the harmless. We do this all the time.

As children, we see a hairy monster under the bed. We switch on the light and see it was just a pile of clothes.

Or we picture the plane going down in a field shortly after take-off, clutching the armrests.

Or we envision the faces of disgust of those reading our vulnerable blog post.

What’s the common thread here?

Our wonderful imaginations.

Imagination can be used for incredible feats of innovation and ingenuity. But imagination can also be misused. That’s when it turns us into worried Gazelles, afraid of our own shadows.

The solution I learned?

Understanding that imagination can often be unhelpful.

We think things. And, very often, those thoughts smother our intelligence.

Our performance drops.

We sweat and stammer giving a talk.

We think we have ‘writer’s block.’

All we’re doing is letting our imaginations run wild.

When I understand my imagination, it becomes much easier to work with it, rather than letting it consume me, like it has thousands of times before.

If I’m feeling anxious, I know my imagination is being misused.

Simple as that.

Because I know this, I see it for what it is. Just thoughts. Not the truth.

I cut the cycle by being present and taking a breath. Now I see things for what they are.

I see the carrot, not the finger.

Things don’t seem so frightening any more.

If you’d like my closer guidance so you reduce your anxiety significantly in a matter of hours, you’ll love Untethered Mind.

This isn’t about using clever mindset tactics that only increase your stress.

It’s about seeing things in a healthy way.

Join hundreds of students whose lives were changed.

Learn more here.

Alex