The (Original) Blog

“You have to let it all go, Neo. Fear, doubt, and disbelief. Free. Your. Mind.” – Morpheus, in The Matrix movie

New blog posts from 2022 on are now on the Shift the Country Substack - which are free to view or to subscribe to. Substack is an effective publishing platform that helps writers get wider audiences and support, and it's a good fit.

This (Original) Blog for Counterfear.com is an exploration of the counterfear work from 2016-2020. Some of the content since 2020 is on the Counterfear Facebook wall. More background "About The (Original) Blog" is here.

This blog space is a dynamic tool. As content builds, you can use the buttons below to search for blog topics you are interested in. Each Focus Area has a tag. The "Counterfear Tools (in blog)" can be found via that link or through the tags here. Shift the Country tools have moved to the 5 Ways To Make Shift Happen page on that new website.

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We Have To Take Care Of Each Other

Thursday, June 11, 2020

There is a lot of tragedy around. That is an understatement It's going to hit all of us at different times and in different ways. From all the things.... Read more

Things To Hold On To

Tuesday, June 2, 2020

Some Big Picture Parts Hey! It's another super long post! This one puts some of the pieces together in one place that we're not all talking about as a big... Read more

Time To Think Deeper Resilience

Tuesday, June 2, 2020

Folks it's time to think deeper resilience. Put your contingency plans in place. Write down the phone numbers you need. Have backup plans for meeting... Read more

Fighting For Each Other

Monday, June 1, 2020

We're in a hell of a moment. If you are hoping that it is going to calm down, I'm here to tell you that it won't. We just had a series of super spreader... Read more

More Death & Destruction Is Coming Whether You See It Or Not

Monday, May 25, 2020

Lots of helplessness, worry, frustration, anger, and rage on my feed today. I've got it too. I'm going to say some uncomfortable stuff here as a disaster... Read more

The Great Transformation

Sunday, May 3, 2020

In a 2012 keynote speech at the Smithsonian, I heard a renowned system scientist say: "The challenge of our lifetimes will be to manage the decline of civilization." It felt like every single person in that auditorium stopped breathing. Like time paused; if only for a moment. I've never been in... Read more

Stay Grounded / Prioritize Everything

Monday, April 6, 2020

Today I offer two pieces of advice in this time of increasing intensity. The first is to try and stay grounded. To not panic. The second is to... Read more

We're Going To Need Dreams As We Go Through This

Tuesday, March 24, 2020

Disasters can be dream-killers. We don't really talk about them that way. Yet they wipe out people and neighborhoods and livelihoods. There's another... Read more

4 Things To Help Navigate The Biggest US Disruption In A Century

Tuesday, March 17, 2020

I feel like the US is slowly catching up to what I've known for years. I knew we were not ready for a catastrophe - especially more than one at a time. I... Read more

Navigating Information Overwhelm

Friday, March 13, 2020

One of the things that happens in disasters is information overwhelm. Especially in the information age. It's a big issue inside the response, but it's a... Read more

Unexpected Lessons From The Life Coach Who Ran For President

Friday, January 10, 2020

So this happened today. It is part of my mission this year to support the Democratic nominee for president. As such, I've been keeping my opinions on each... Read more

Found My Resonance: It's Shifting The Country

Tuesday, July 16, 2019

The Spectre When it comes to dealing with the current state of the country, I feel like I had a bit of a head start. I moved to Iowa from Washington, DC in the fall of 2015… just as the races were really heating up for the Iowa Caucus set for February of 2016. So much for leaving the politics of Washington. As I started to settle into my new life in the midwest, the spectre of Donald Trump was becoming more ominous. He seemed to be everywhere. His intention to be a disruptor was crystal clear. I had a talk about Mr. Trump on a phone call with a friend of mine around that time. It was November of 2015, and I can tell you right... Read more

Lead, Follow, or Get Out of the Way

Saturday, June 22, 2019

Late night commiserating, here. And fight. I am super frustrated lately with a) judgment and b) unnecessary meanness. Oh, and c) dismissiveness. These... Read more

Stop Waiting For Something Bad To Happen: It Has (And There Are Things You Can Do About It)

Saturday, August 4, 2018

If you are under the impression that the United States government can do nothing to fight Russian cyber actions and attacks, to help states with election security, to help with detection of cyber threats to states or companies or federal systems, or to take offensive cyber... Read more

Actions For You & Yours In An Active Shooter Incident

Wednesday, February 14, 2018

Active shooter again today. This time it's at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School (#StonemanShooting) in #ParklandFlorida. Every time there is an active shooter incident, it is a chance to think and talk about how you would react. It is a chance for... Read more

Doing The Same Thing Over & Over Doesn't Cause Change

Wednesday, February 14, 2018

Y'all, @600 people were shot at one single incident in the past year in Las Vegas. There are active shooter incidents every few days in the US. Orlando in... Read more

The Mueller-Oprah Phenomenon, & Another Way

Tuesday, January 9, 2018

Holding Out for a Hero No one person is going to save the day – or the country. It's not Special Counsel Mueller. Despite all of the twitterpation since Sunday’s Golden Globes that Oprah... Read more

Allowing Hope In

Saturday, December 30, 2017

I keep leaving fire. It’s a funny thing to leave, because the ways in which I leave are not really visible to the fire world. They’re quiet – as so many leavings are. They vary, too. I left the field for fire management. I left fire management to work on post-9/11 stuff in Washington, DC. I left that because it didn’t... Read more

Tool: Hold The Line

Thursday, November 16, 2017

UPDATE: This post is duplicated as a Services page, "Holding the Line," and is a Counterfear Tool. Since it was originally posted, the US has been experiencing increasing chaos; especially in mid-2020. This area of work - holding the line - can help with the part of the mission of the... Read more

It's Time To Talk About National Security

Tuesday, October 31, 2017

My advice today: it is time to talk about National Security. This is the dialogue. This isn't about politics. This isn't about anything else now but a threat to the security of... Read more

Decision Support Information (Incident Intelligence)

Thursday, October 12, 2017

The Basics of Fire Intelligence I had a super sexy sounding job once as a Fire Intelligence Coordinator at “South Ops,” the busiest interagency emergency coordination center in the world. Our job as one of eleven geographic area coordination centers in the US was to coordinate regional... Read more

Humanity in Vegas

Monday, October 2, 2017

This quote is from a witness in the Las Vegas mass shooting. His name is Anthony, filmed with his girlfriend Dillon. He was interviewed by Jo Ling Kent, NBC News Correspondent at 8:05 p.m.... Read more

Ill Will & Name-Calling

Thursday, September 7, 2017

Today I’m fired up. I get in a state when there are impending catastrophes, especially given the fact that we’ve already got one or two well underway. Years ago, I committed to living my life well within my own integrity. For me, this means loving people, giving folks a chance, and embracing... Read more

Keeping My Damn Voice

Tuesday, September 5, 2017

There are moments... and I find myself tempted to temper my voice to meet some perceived Important Mission. Here's the thing, though. I tempered my voice... Read more

10 Ways to Help in Hurricane Harvey Disaster

Monday, August 28, 2017

Hurricane Harvey aka Tropical Storm Harvey is unfolding as the largest US catastrophe since Hurricane Katrina. Rain and flooding are expected to continue this week. What can you do to help?... Read more

Be the Storm: Channeling Intensity

Thursday, August 24, 2017

"Fate whispers to the warrior, 'you cannot withstand the storm,’ and the warrior whispers back, ‘I am the storm.’” – Unknown Sometimes I forget that I am an intense person. This is probably due in part to years of work in federal bureaucracy attempting to squish it out of me. Today I remembered because I was playing the Beastie... Read more

Charlottesville: What Would Your City Do?

Saturday, August 12, 2017

A white supremacist rally was declared unlawful after turning violent today in Charlottesville, VA, and an emergency declaration was issued by the... Read more

This IS the Disaster

Tuesday, June 13, 2017

Some on social media today seem surprised or extra disheartened by the behavior of Senators in the Attorney General Sessions hearing regarding the Russia... Read more

Floored by the Shock About Paris Climate Accord

Friday, June 2, 2017

Well I'm going to have to swear. I have to admit to being flat-out stunned that so many people are stunned about the POTUS pulling the US out of the... Read more

Just Write

Thursday, May 11, 2017

From what I have seen, when aspiring writers ask widely known writers how to do it, the second group always tell the first group to start by JUST WRITING.... Read more

What "I'm Done" Means

Thursday, May 11, 2017

Yesterday I heard myself say the words "I'm done," in reference to something I have loved for years. A part of my work. I spent the rest of the evening... Read more

Have a Resilient Inauguration Week Trip to DC

Monday, January 16, 2017

So you’re going to Washington! Whether you are traveling to the nation’s capital for a party, a protest, or just to be present, one thing is for sure: you will need to be resilient. Anything can happen in a city on a normal day, but let’s admit it: this week, Washington, DC will be a special case. Really and trulyâ€Š—â€Šanything is possible. Things may go just swimmingly. Hopefully that’s the case.... Read more

A Prayer for Election Day

Tuesday, November 8, 2016

And so it begins. US Election Day 2016. Years in the making. May we be wise in our choices, and peaceful in our response. May we find acceptance. May we... Read more

Everything You Want Is On The Other Side of Fear

Sunday, October 23, 2016

George Addair said, "Everythig you want is on the other side of fear." I love that, because it is a tool. If we face our fear; if we counter it - we start a shift. The action might just be finding the fear, and... Read more

Staring Down Transformation

Thursday, October 20, 2016

"You can't transform something you won't look at." - Dixie St. John It’s easy to get overwhelmed, and a bit paralyzed. We tend to resist change, even when risk is... Read more

Going the Full Phoenix

Wednesday, October 5, 2016

I learned a beautiful metaphor about transformation when I was in life coach training with Martha Beck. It’s a bit about how a caterpillar doesn’t go into a cocoon and slowly transform... Read more

Terrorism: Accepting the Unacceptable

Monday, September 19, 2016

“I will love the light for it shows me the way, yet I will endure the darkness because it shows me the stars.” - Og Mandino Just when I feel like it’s safe to take a time-out from the news for a day or so, we’ve got more terrorism. I won’t even try to summarize the latest developments… but the super-quick picture is that there were attacks in New York, New Jersey, and Minnesota this weekend. The debate rages on about whether these were terrorist attacks. At its... Read more

Anchor and Flank

Sunday, September 18, 2016

"Anchor and Flank" is at the core of the counterfear process (check out the Focus Area page "Anchor and Flank" for more). It comes from fire. In fact, it's a core principle of wildland firefighting,... Read more

Light From the Darkness: The Day After 15 Years After 9/11

Monday, September 12, 2016

"I remember exactly that moment when the whole world stopped & we saw each other standing there. Wondering how we ever forgot that we are all light wanting to shine for each other." - Brian Andreas, StoryPeople Yesterday I tried to write a blog post about 9/11. Well, if I’m honest, I started trying to write it on Friday. Didn’t work. Didn’t... Read more

Tool: The Art of Triage

Friday, September 9, 2016

Addressing Chaos Years ago when I worked as a Fire Intelligence Coordinator at “South Ops," I set about finding some tools to help me organize and prioritize. South Ops is the country’s busiest interagency operations coordination center, and is reputed to be the busiest such center center in the world. It covers response coordination... Read more

Keep the Faith

Monday, June 20, 2016

Fire folks are known to be a little eccentric. Well, wildland fire folks, anyway. Come to think of it, just today I had a new friend say to me, “who voluntarily goes into a burning forest, anyway?” To me, that sounds like a... Read more

Tool: Create the Space

Sunday, June 19, 2016

"First things first." Creating the space is one of my own personal go-to favourite coaching tools. It’s pretty simple. You have to create the space for what you want. You may want peace. Vision. Rest. Progress. You can reach these - even for a moment - by creating some space for them. If... Read more

Tool: Sphere of Control

Friday, June 17, 2016

"You don't surrender your dreams. You surrender the one thing you never had and you never will: control." - Socrates, Peaceful Warrior Read more

Tool: Change Your Language, Shift Your Life

Thursday, June 16, 2016

Take a look at your language. You are not what you were. From this moment on, you can be something different. Language is powerful. How we use it reflects how we think. When you pay attention to your language, you can see what it reflects about how you think. When you put the work in to change your language and your thinking - you can shift both. Talking about You To start with,... Read more

Tool: Daily 5 & 5

Thursday, June 16, 2016

This here is a tool you can use daily. It's fast. And it's effective. Every day, take five minutes and write a list of: 5 things you are grateful for 5 things that you... Read more

Tool: Vision & Passion

Wednesday, June 15, 2016

“This is your world. Shape it, or someone else will.” - Gary Lew Randomly sit one day and write a life vision. Don’t stew over it, or make it in to something bigger than it is…... Read more

Tool: Embrace Your Humanity

Wednesday, June 15, 2016

This is a tool from Steve Maraboli, a favourite life coach of mine. I met Steve in 2009, well before I considered becoming a life coach myself. Steve planted a seed, though. I listened to hours of Steve’s online radio... Read more

Tool: Go for a Walk

Wednesday, June 15, 2016

“The journey is what brings us happiness, not the destination.” - Socrates, in the movie Peaceful Warrior Going for a walk is absolutely one of my favourite life tools. Walking is good for the soul. Humans have been... Read more

Tool: Hear Your Fear

Wednesday, June 15, 2016

With all this talk about countering fear, it is important to recognize fear itself. We have fear for a reason. Sometimes it’s a life-saver. When I see a crazy driver veering around on the road or cutting in and out of traffic -... Read more

Tool: Take Out the Trash

Wednesday, June 15, 2016

"Take out the trash. The trash is anything that's keeping you from the only thing that matters, this moment. Here. Now. And when you truly are in the here and now, you'll be amazed at what you can do, and how well you can do it." - Socrates, in the movie... Read more

On Orlando: Love Makes Us Strong

Tuesday, June 14, 2016

Pulse Nightclub Attack - June 12, 2016 - Orlando, Florida Tonight I finally figured out what I wanted to say about the attack this week at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida. I outlined a... Read more

May Day & Mayday!

Sunday, May 1, 2016

It’s May Day here in the US. For me, it’s a day loaded with meaning. All kinds of meaning. When I was a kid, May Day was the symbolic “real” beginning of spring. The grass was green. The winter was almost certainly over. And every year, we went to some effort to make May baskets. My mother led the operation, which involved assembling collections of popcorn... Read more

Random Tools to Counter Unclear Fear

Tuesday, April 26, 2016

One benefit to growing the Counterfear idea is that I’ve got notes on about a hundred counterfear tools in my arsenal - and that is a real number. I’m in the process of getting as many of those as possible on the website in the near future. In the meantime, this post is a bit of a Toolbox sampling... as I tried to process some unexplained fear one night. Practical Fear It would be nice to think that if... Read more