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"It's an exaggeration!"Fear is a common human emotion and it causes more than its share of suffering. Yet, if we think carefully about our fears, we realize that most, if not all, are big exaggerations. The reason we suffer so much from our fears is we believe the exaggerations to be true. That's what makes our fears so huge. If we were to go through our lives from 10 years old to our current age, how many of our fears would have come true? Probably very few, perhaps on the order of 1-5% of the time. We seem to exaggerate the size of our fears for primal reasons, so we can remain safe and avoid injury and death. But what do we give up by having such large fears? Freedom to choose, opportunities, and peace of mind. When we catch ourselves in a fear, we can use the practice, "It's an exaggeration!" Saying this to ourselves will give us a freer moment to ask, "What is the realistic probability that this fear will come true?" Many of our fears will be reduced in size by asking this question, which means we'll be more willing to try things that, earlier, seemed too risky. Having smaller fears will add adventures and opportunities to our lives.
