The cause of our distress

We, as humans, have a lot of expectations, we expect things to work a certain way, to go well, or not, depending on the circumstances. We create this preconceived notion of how things will or should happen. And these expectations seriously taint our perception of performance. If something fails t...

Worry briefly feels good, especially compared to the alternative—doing nothing and just feeling afraid. Worry feels good because it gives us something (rather than nothing) to do. And this makes us feel a little less helpless and out of control.

We may not...

• Our fear of blushing in front of others can cause us to alter our behaviors in a way that does result in poorer judgment from others. It’s not the blushing that causes people to judge us negatively but rather the way in which we modify our response. It ends up being a kind of self-fulfilling...