Boo! Why does the thought of seeing a ghost make our hearts race? How many of us have jumped at the sight of an eight legged friend crawling down the wall? Who here fears balancing high on a ladder? How about being alone, at home, in the dark? Does getting on a crowded elevator produce tiny droplets of perspiration on our temples?

What is it about these things that turns our nervous system on it's head and sends us into a deep dark panic? Since we have been talking about Halloween the last few weeks, let's talk about fear and why we fear stuff like spiders, dogs and public speaking. Here is a great article from How Stuff Works "How Fear Works." The short of the article is fear helps us stay alive. It gives our bodies the message that we should move and shake our way right out of that snakes path or stay in the cave durning a lightening storm. Fear is primal and it is unavoidable but we can dance with and perhaps create something from it.

Today, let's create some Halloween fear. Pick someone you know (very well) and scare or gross them out just a bit. Bring on the fear! Maybe a good friend is a bit shy of spiders? Perhaps a big, fake hairy spider at the store will give them a healthy shriek. How about switching out yellow mustard for frosting on top of cupcakes? The kids will never want a cupcake again! How about an airhorn taped behind a door? Get the measuring tape ready to see how far your friends feet levitate from the ground. Whatever you do, make it more of a trick than a treat and remember to tell them Happy Halloween.

Until tomorrow tricksters.

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