Anticipating something fearful causes us to go through the feelings of an experience we don’t want. It doesn’t actually matter if it ever happens, just thinking about it makes it real to us. That doesn’t mean we need to live in a fantasy world pretending that everything is always fine. We can still be aware of and prepare for unwanted eventualities. However, since our very experience of life depends upon the skillful and intentional imagining of our desired future, when we consistently practice anticipating what we want, that’s is

What we’ll experience.