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