Fear

Fear is an expectation of harm, real or imagined.  Did you know that?

Fear impacts our thinking and decision-making, in negative ways, leaving us susceptible to intense emotions and impulsive reactions. Some of those intense emotional, impulsive reactions can make us feel:

• worried
• doubtful
• nervous
• anxious
• terrified
• panicked
• horrified
• desperate

What are our biggest fears in life?  

• Fear of failing.  That feeling of not being “good” enough, smart enough, or courageous enough.
• Fear of the unknown.

Fear starts in the brain  

There is a part in the brain called the “Amygdala.” It is a powerful and primitive part of our brain, that our body relies on, to maintain our safety. In today’s language it has been called the “flight, fight or freeze” response. It processes fear, anxiousness, and rage; and also plays  a part in memory and learning.

When fears form, due to things we have seen or experienced, they get stored away in our brain as “trauma,” yielding a physical and emotional reaction when triggered.

There are two means of processing our fear.  

• Conscious Mind – needs to understand the fear.
• Sub conscious mind – needs to fit this fear into a pattern.

Being an emotion, fear is much like an ‘onion skin,’ having multiple layers.  As we peel back layer after layer, we may come to the emotion called ‘anger.’ It has been found that ‘fear’ is almost always under ‘anger.’ When we think back of a time when we were in fear…in thinking over that fear, we may come to the realization that we were angry, at or about something, and that is what elicited the ‘fear.’  It is really interesting to analyze some of our lessons with the fear response, only to find, that it was really an anger that seemed to be the real culprit.

Addressing our fear is important.  

Here are some antidotes for fear:

• Learn about your fear or fears.
• Make an attempt to understand your fear by gathering knowledge about it and how you act when you are afraid.
• Make a list of possible fears.
• Many fears are about ‘rules’ that we have made, and have been taught, by our peers since childhood.
• Some fears are habits based on rules and can be changed.
• We honestly can ‘make up’ fear by thinking of something that happened in the past and worrying that it will happen again.

Fear is about the future

When I heard that, it really made me think.  I tried remembering a time that I had shown fear, and what my thoughts were before the fearful response.  Sure enough, it was nothing happening at that moment, it was more a worrying of something happening in a future time.  To feel afraid, one must conclude that this thing we are thinking about is ‘bad,’ because no one is afraid of something ‘good.’  See what I mean?  Have you ever thought about it like that?

Here are some ways to not feel fearful

• If you are feeling fearful, bring all your attention back to ‘this very moment’ in time; back to the present moment.
• Try an experiment and see for yourself if this is not true.  The more you can do this, the calmer you will be.
•  Get your thoughts back into the present, do something that forces you to think in the ‘now,’ right now, at this very moment.
• By doing this suggested exercise above, you will find it very calming and it will bring you to a more peaceful place.
• Think of love.  Think of something or someone who you deeply love. This too will bring you back to a calming  place, in the present moment.
• Focus on ‘good’ that you can do or focus on what you love.
• Think of actively helping someone or a condition; then you will be too busy to become fearful.
• Keep your focus on ‘goodness.’

Fear always requires tension  

Personally, I did not ever think of it quite that way,  and when I did think about it, it was absolutely true.  A fun example would be to totally relax and then try to be fearful about something.  You cannot be fearful if you are calm.  Try it and see.  It is amazing.  So, you come to realize that you need to have a relaxed body to rid it of fear.

However, if you have enough tension in your body you will have fear sometimes for no reason at all. This is what Panic Attacks are all about.  But the relaxation itself does not always change the mind.  Our subconscious mind processes things in patterns, while our conscious mind processes things through understanding.

Suggestions to change the rules

• Recognize what your fear is.
• Ask yourself, what am I reacting to?
• If it is some outdated rule, change it.
• Do the opposite.
• Breathe deeply.

When someone becomes fearful who used to be fearless, it is usually tension of some sort in the body.  Oftentimes when there is fear,  our bodies will “pull inward physically,” without us even realizing it; so an opposite reaction would be to start breathing deeply. You need to remember this.  It can be a sudden crisis or a gradual thing that has developed over the years that can throw you into a fearful state, so we need to be mindful of these facts and remember how to counter act them.  And, the best part is…if you begin doing this, ‘good’ things may very well begin to happen; because if you want change, YOU simply have to ‘change.’  We are never too old.  As a matter of fact, with age comes wisdom, and we will begin to realize and take responsibility for our actions. If you do not like something, then CHANGE what you are not liking.

This wonderful report is based on notes taken at a ‘talk story’ event that was given by Mr. Serge Kahili King, a highly respected man doing great works with his deep wisdom of Shamanism. He has written 10 books, that I am sure one could find on Amazon. com.

Submitted by: Ruth Ota

http://www.heathfromunexpectedplaces.com

comments are welcome