I used to have a problem with a thought gremlin I call Dread Buddy.
This little monster would visit me in the hours before an important meeting and wreak all sorts of havoc on my day.
“Oh look who showed up 3 hours early to my weekly meeting, it’s Dread Buddy!”
Past me might have let Dread Buddy run wild, trampling my calendar and headspace. Nowadays, I let this doom pet sit beside me. If it starts getting fussy, I take a moment to hear it out and then say, “Psst. Simmer down, I’ve got work to do.”
Here’s how I tamed and befriended Dread Buddy.
Two linguistic magic tricks for bewildering beasts
I was eventually able to calm my pre-meeting dread. It started with some useful magic words that gave me a necessary perspective shift.
This is the part where…
Just like how it can be hard to see what’s going on with the chair you’re sitting in, sometimes we need to get emotional distance from a situation.
“[This is the part where] helps us access a future perspective. We’re looking at it from a place where the story has already moved on and we can look back with more peace and compassion.” — Master Coach Kara Loewentheil in a podcast episode called This is the part where…
To cast your time-travel spell, start with the phrase, “This is the part where…” and fill in the rest with a summary of your current situation.