I honestly couldn't figure out what was causing him to tuck his tail and cower in such fear. Linus, my 85 pound muscle of a dog, was definitely known for being scared of just about everything. His biggest fear of course was the UPS man (I still can't believe Linus tried to flee with such intensity that he pulled me over). But on this occasion, I couldn't for the life of me figure out what was tripping him off: No garage doors were moving; no people were around us; it wasn't windy. I was at a loss.

Your Holding the Answer

When we returned back to the house, I mistakenly dropped a letter from the mail and, again, he tried to tear off as if I was dropping a bomb. It was a simple envelope, probably containing some junk mail credit card offer addressed to 'current resident.' But it didn't matter. To Linus, it was scary because it was unknown and different. I didn't realize that "the fear of the unknown and unfamiliar" can be quite common to dogs (thanks Pet Smart training!). But this snapshot in my life got me thinking...

Humans, of course, would never do something so silly as to be afraid of a letter! Right? Unless of course it was addressed from the IRS (am I being audited?) or a family member we don't get along with anymore (Aunt Rachel again!). No, we humans have our fair share of made up boogeyman just waiting to jump out and get us at every turn. Am I going to lose my client? Is this person going to try and get back at me? Will I be stuck doing ___ forever? Fears, worries, doubts. And in many cases, if we were able to look at our situation from a neutral, object position, we'd find find that the cause of our anxiety and stress is no more harmful than a piece of paper.