FACE YOUR FEARS TO WELCOME CHEER

fear has two meanings

fear everything and run or face

everything

and rise the choice is yours

fear is a natural primitive

and powerful emotion often instilled in

childhood

eat your food or the bogeyman will get

you

do your homework or i’ll tell your

teacher

and later do good or you’ll go to hell

fear involves a universal biochemical

reaction

the fight of flight response

and a highly personalized emotional

reaction

fear can be your friend in the right

doses

but too much of it can be harmful

fear stems from real hazards but it can

also originate

from imaginary threats people have all

kinds of phobias

fear of heights fear of the unknown

fear of being alone

fear of crowded places and also

fear of spiders fear

can also be a symptom of some mental

health issues

have you ever wondered why scary movies

can be fun

this is because fear induces the same

chemical reactions in your brain

that positive emotions like happiness do

this is why some people are adrenaline

seekers

thriving on extreme sport and

other high risk ventures

at times fear enables concentration

and helps shed distractions resulting in

outstanding performance weight lifters

are known to lift an additional 12

in critical conditions heroic acts come

about

in hostage crises or terrorist attacks

fear prevents you from taking risks

but sometimes being too risk averse

can lead to a joy averse life

fear of commitment deprives you

of wonderful relationships

and the choices you make

and the risks you take are the factors

that make

for happiness fear

is one of the nine rasas or basic human

emotions listed in the vedas the oldest

known source of knowledge

vedanta the last portion of each of the

vedas

the science of self-management

gives us the pathway to overcome fear

first let’s take a look at the cause of

fear

fear arises from largely five

causes wrongdoing

selfishness desire

ignorance and otherness

wrongdoing when you are upright

and straightforward there is no fear

in the mahabharata the evil kauravas

army was at least one and a half times

that of the pandavas

but it was the kauravas who were fearful

selfishness a selfish person cares

only about himself and views everyone

else as an opponent

selfish people are afraid of competitors

they imagine enemies outside

and they mistake benefactors for

malefactors

fear is a modification of desire

when desire is fulfilled and you obtain

the object of desire

there is fear of losing it wealthy

people

are afraid someone will steal their

money

a beautiful lady is afraid of old age

and ugliness

and famous people fear loss of

reputation

ignorance we are all afraid of death

because it’s an unknown entity

perhaps if we knew what would happen

after death

we would not fear it that much and

otherness of course is a source of fear

an indian in india does not fear a cop

but the same indian in the united states

caught for speeding panics this is why

indians who might blatantly break laws

in india

become law abiding citizens overseas

fearlessness is a sign of spiritual

development

when you enrich yourself from within

you become resilient independent

strong and fearless

the first step to dealing with fear is

to use the intellect

the discriminating faculty in you to

assess

analyze and overcome fear swami

vivekananda was once walking along the

street in banaras

and a group of monkeys chased after him

he ran

a monk by the roadside told him to face

the brutes

he stopped turned and looked at the

monkeys

they fled so is it with fear

develop the intellect the intellect is

developed

pretty much the same way as the body is

through exercise think

question inquire

reflect think originally

independently without being influenced

by others

when the intellect becomes strong it has

the capacity

to control the whims and fancies of the

wayward mind

the mind is the seat of emotions

feelings

likes and dislikes emotions like

love hatred anxiety

jealousy envy so on and so forth

the mind does not have the capacity to

decipher

what is in your interest what is not in

your interest

emotion has no reason why do you love

someone

no reason why do you hate

your mother-in-law no reason at all

why do are you afraid of the dark no

reason

and so on why are you jealous again no

reason

when the intellect is weak

the mind and its emotions run right

and devastate your personality

many years ago in mumbai a very senior

naval officer shot his wife’s lover

and ruined his life any emotion

unchecked can wreak havoc

the same emotion guided

supervised and controlled by the

intellect

is a beautiful thing to have

otherwise you’re held captive by your

own mind

the spiritual path gets to the root of

the problem

it consists of three simple practices

that every single human being

can follow it does not require you

to change your lifestyle wardrobe

or profession all it takes is a slight

shift in thinking

and the results are magical let’s take a

look at these practices

at the body level we perform action

act with the attitude of giving

not taking substitute

the urge to grab with the desire

to serve shift from profiteering

to offering fear vanishes when you

become a giver in the tale of two cities

by charles dickens sydney carton

changes places with a prisoner who’s

about to be guillotined the following

day

and the next day when he’s carted

to the guillotine he says it’s a

far far better thing i do than i’ve ever

done

it’s a far far better world i go to than

i’ve ever known

the law is give you gain

grab you lose physics corroborates

an object is red in color because it

absorbs all the other colors except red

amazingly what it gives it retains

and the six colors it grabs it loses

so is it in life the more you give

the more you gain all givers are happy

take a look at two kids in kindergarten

one child comes to school with chocolate

and

shares it with her friends she’s beaming

she has a smile on her face she’s happy

the other child says no it’s mine

she has a frown on her face

second emotion

we are all strongly entrenched in

feelings of separateness

substitute this with oneness embrace the

world

with love affection consideration

and compassion the vedas roar with the

truth

the whole universe is one family

reach up to people with affection and

they return the courtesy

they go beyond the call of duty and you

achieve

outstanding success fear

vanishes when you feel one yudhisthira

in the mahabharata was called

ajatashatru

one whose enemy is not yet born

because he did not consider anybody as

an enemy

oneness makes for happiness

today you’re happy only when good things

happen to you

you buy a luxury car you’re happy if

your neighbor buys a luxury car

you are positively unhappy

but if you feel one with the neighbor he

buys the car

he maintains it you celebrate as if the

car was yours

expand your circle of love to the whole

world

and your happiness multiplies eight

billion times the third

thought knowledge

not knowledge of science or economics

but knowledge of the distinction between

the permanent

and the impermanent the world

and all that it offers is

temporary passing transitory

and impermanent when you understand this

you become fearless because there is no

fear of losing you know it will go

when you become a sharp thinker you

develop clear thinking

you become successful in life

you’re happy because your happiness is

not

dependent on the world

whatever it offers pandemic or no

pandemic

and you get established in the permanent

with these practices

not only do you become fearless and

confident

but you grow into a towering personality

you’re able to take calculated risks

you’re

unfazed by failure even if it comes to

you

and you gain power over the world

you attain outstanding success

you become tremendously happy

and you tap into the source

of the fountainhead of bliss

magnificence and beauty within

you