Hello. I am Dr. John Dacey, coming to you with my weekly podcast, “New Solutions to the Anxiety Epidemic. This time, I’m going to be talking again about the second step of my COPE strategy, originality. I remind you that this step of the model calls for you to be as creative as you can in organizing a series of tactics, designed just for your own personality. I promised that I would help you to become more original, and this is the second time I have tried to keep that word. To begin with, it is wise to assess your own creative abilities. Regardless of whether you are one of the most original people you know, or are not very high at all in that trait, everyone can move up. Everyone can get better at being creative. It will be very much to your benefit if you design your own imaginative plan for becoming less anxious. You will need to get some benchmark of your overall ability. This is hard to do, not only because creativity is somewhat ephemeral, but also because it is difficult for us to be objective about how gifted we are. Nevertheless, we have make a try. To begin this venture, fill out what I call a “personal shield.” This is like a family crest, or coat of arms, except it doesn’t exist. You wil have to design it yourself. Imagine, if you will, a shield that has been divided into five sections. The crest has a line down the middle, and two horizontal lines dividing the shield into thirds. Furthermore, you need to know that the vertical line is not extended into the bottom section. Therefore, there are five sections. You can see a picture of the shield in the transcript (blog) that accompanies this podcast. Or you can just make a list of the five traits I am asking you to put in each box. The five traits are: What you consider your greatest strength. Your worst weakness. Your greatest personal achievement. Your worst screw-up. Your most hoped-for lifetime achievement. The most imaginative thing to do would be to draw symbols of your answers, as you would see on such an escutcheon. However, if you like, you could just answer the questions.       Your Personal Crest -- Creativity (https://docs.google.com/drawings/u/0/d/swHSbr_3ytjGY8LHMo031HQ/image?w=215&h=42&rev=1&ac=1&parent=1sCmF_Y9bjKcmdwIFxYS_uhFbzR1IobGIdDwdSmvdQa0)(https://docs.google.com/drawings/u/0/d/sWDj9rcZ5G8BeDp8Ady3Btg/image?w=296&h=37&rev=1&ac=1&parent=1sCmF_Y9bjKcmdwIFxYS_uhFbzR1IobGIdDwdSmvdQa0)(https://docs.google.com/drawings/u/0/d/swO1Z3yyaY-eTDvaoFoFcdg/image?w=499&h=424&rev=1&ac=1&parent=1sCmF_Y9bjKcmdwIFxYS_uhFbzR1IobGIdDwdSmvdQa0)(https://docs.google.com/drawings/u/0/d/sS68lXZ1n_cerpmpWvayrHg/image?w=4&h=250&rev=1&ac=1&parent=1sCmF_Y9bjKcmdwIFxYS_uhFbzR1IobGIdDwdSmvdQa0) 1 Best Strength 2 Worst Weakness