Murder of a Peaceful Mind

Today, something ruthlessly took the life of another peaceful mind. Found lying in a pool of anxiety and fear, the crime scene tape drew a bright yellow beacon toward the carnage brought upon the once tranquil town of Serenity Hills.

 The small suburban community, located just outside of Big Town Park, was now the nation's highlight. News crews and investigators swarmed like vultures to view the wreckage of troubled souls and damaged, harmonious existence.

 As the helicopters buzzed overhead, the investigators combed the area with a fine-tooth comb. They tediously inspected every nook and cranny, hoping to find a shred of evidence that would point them toward solving the mystery behind the murders.

Was it just one perpetrator or a gang of cold-hearted offenders behind the murders? Right now, the truth hides behind the darkness of responsibility and accountability, and justice needs to be served.

 

Looking for clues amongst the chaos

As the investigation progressed, more and more clues led the team toward the inner world of disordered thinking suspects. The chaos and ruminations played a significant role in the victims' ultimate demise.

The intermittent swarm of darkness affects the entire team and their problem-solving abilities. The doubt and lack of control produces a tornado storm of thunderous agitation that derails their confidence and clear thinking.

 The negative charge zapped their energetic efforts. Its forceful power carries them into the realization that its power is more than one singular outlaw causing these horrendous assassinations on the peaceful mind.

Feeling defeated, the team finally admits they need help and call in the big guns. Detective Amy G. Dala. The small yet mighty crime analyst. She is an expert in profiling personality and behaviors.

 Her years of experience and training allow her to stay level-headed. During heightened emotions, she recognizes the facts beyond the feelings of fear.

 Quickly, she can move beyond threatening ancestral barriers and uncover the truth behind the motivations. It is her ace in the hole and why she can stay one step ahead of the delinquent actions of the crimes.

 

Unraveling the mysterious thread of anxiety's crime

Amy G. Dala sits in the stillness of her quiet office, surrounded by the mounting evidence. The photo of the victim, lying in a pool of fear and anxiety, stares back at her.

 "That's it!" she declares to herself. They found each of the victims in the same way. It seems to be the only common factor in all the puzzle pieces of these murders.

 Serenity Hills has a large clan of fear-mongers living just outside its boundaries. Their sole purpose is to arouse the painful, dreadful thoughts of the unsuspecting citizens.

 Identifying prime suspects

 The prime suspects within the clan are stress, panic, perfectionism, overthinking, and self-doubt. At the same time, each can work on their own; when they band together, their power surfaces.

 They instill ancIent rituals of survival as if being threatened by a ban of tigers hunting for their next meal. They choose one of four innate responses, depending on their intended victims. Fight, flight, freeze, or fawn.

 "Eureka!" Detective Amy G. Dala declares. That is why these serial killings appear to be different, yet the common threads are the stopping blocks and the individual characteristics of the suspects. Detective Amy starts with a breakdown analysis of each suspect.

 Sinister Stress

Evil lurks within the suspects' intentions. They use common stress-provoking actions of daily living involving money, relationships, and changing circumstances. Whether these are good or bad actions doesn't matter.

 It is the biggest evil that slowly and methodically attacks the victim. Each builds upon the other, and before you know it, tension is created that you cannot escape.

 Powerless Panic

When worry and anxiety combine forces, the victim has no control over their body's reaction to the unstable gale force winds spinning a chaotic storm of fear. Heart pounding from the rush of blood racing throughout the victim's body renders them powerless to stop the attack on their heart and breathing.

 Prissy Perfectionism

This suspect drops evil black-and-white thinking patterns of caring too much about appearances and what others think. Their motto is to always be right and proper in their actions. Often, this occurs to cover the perceived common imperfections they have.

 Overt Overthinking

The suspect takes the victim on an exploration of experiences from the past and uses them for future predictions. There is no escape from this type of thinking. There is no hidden agenda or secrets on the roller coaster tracks. The victim takes off on this adventure alone and the overt overthinking takes off led only by the victim's train of thoughts.

 Sneaky Self Doubt

Oh, my goodness. This suspect quietly lurks in the shadows, watching and waiting for the exact moment to drop tidbits of doubt into the gray matter of the victim. Even the otherwise confident mind is no match for this sneaky devil.

 Detective Amy G. Dala is now aware of the magnitude of the power this clan holds over the citizens of Serenity Hills. It's no wonder the murder rates of a peaceful mind are so high. It's not any outside predators that they can fight or escape.

 Solving the case

The awareness that all the suspects use the individual victims' fears as their weapons, making arrests and stopping future crimes like this is much more complicated than solving the murder itself.

 The only thing that can stop these suspects' torment is for the victims to be proactive rather than reactive to the stressors and emotions that the suspects attach themselves to.

 Pouring over the evidence once more, Detective Amy G. Dala remembers a noteworthy trial she had permission to observe last year. In her profiling notes of some of the key jurors in The Judge and Jury of Your Inner Critic, they match the profiles of the suspects in this murder mystery.

 How contradictory. A jury of our peers can also be murderers of our peace of mind. But is it?

 Becoming an advocate for justice

The only way to be an advocate for justice against the murders of a peaceful mind is to teach all the community members of Serenity Hill to engage in activities that promote and support mental wellness.

 Becoming our own detectives means examining the evidence and being aware of the suspect's actions. It allows us to focus our attention on further exploration of motives, patterns, and beliefs that allow the suspects to gain control of our thoughts and emotions.

 Even the tiniest reminders of joy and happiness will send the clan back to the outskirts of town, at least momentarily. They are extremely stubborn.

As the community of Serenity Hills reclaims their inner peace and starts overcoming the trauma of these crimes, they will need our help.

 They need a different and larger circle of peers to support them. Part of the torments of these suspects left the victims isolated and hidden within the fear of vulnerability.

 I recommend the citizens incorporate mindful moments into their daily plan. These moments are pre-planned distractions to bring the peaceful mind back to balance. Surround your work area with pictures and trinkets that make you smile. Put images that make you laugh on your cell phone.

Make appointments with yourself to do creative work even if its ten to twenty minutes to focus on something that distracts your thoughts from the overwhelming stressors.

 Remembering that in the jury member of our self-critic; labels, comparison, expectations, bias, doubt, perceptions, stress, shame, anxiety, ego, opinions, and perfection can be responsible for the murder of a peaceful mind is a key to bridge our path toward change.

 Successful changes come when we are moving toward something, not just to move away or escape a painful situation. We need to learn to build the stepping stones forward with tiny steps of happiness.

 So, as a peer of the citizens of Serenity Hill, what is one piece of advice you can give them to prevent future attacks on their mental well-being and bring closure to the case of murders of a peaceful mind that occurred in Serenity Hill?