Walking Through Fear
Watching the fear happening around me from the Swine flu amazes me. People filled with so much fear. It made me stop and think for a few about fear. How so many people are so filled with fear that they forget the one basic element in life. LIVING!
Many things teach us fear. History teaches us over and over and over, yet we refuse to learn from history. Religion threatens us with fear. The bible mentions 365 times to fear not yet there are hundred of scripture that suggest we fear the Lord. Fears are passed on from generation to generation I call it generational fear. A relative might have a fear and hand it down from generation to generation, and we never question the validity of the fear, we just continue to pass on terrifying myths and fables, deeply rooted in our ancestry.
Fear can be based from past experience. (If it happened this time it will always happen) So if someone’s father leaves them at a young age, and then a brother leaves to go to college, that person might fear that ALL men will abandon them and create a fear. Remember 99 percent of all fears are unreal and just something we make up.
Fear has now become an effective political whip: If you don’t want to die a fiery death in another World Trade Center bombing then we need to invade other countries. Further more, the reason we have two giant pits in the ground in NYC is because it is politically smarter to leave a gaping wound to remind us of the terror every day than filling it in, building it up, and moving on with our lives as the living.
Much of this fear is brought to you by the media, which is one of the biggest promoters of fear. It is the mouth piece for modern world wide fear. Millions of dollars are spent annually researching ways to get you to watch the news. People are surveyed as to what makes them watch the news. Statements such as “officials are worried about” “experts warn that” how about “shocking new details” or “an alarming percentage” are phrases that are used to create fear in people. It does not have to be a phrase either. Single words such as “Deadly” and “disaster” certainly instill fear with most people.
Thoughts get energized by reacting to it with emotion generating more thought and more emotion. Did you know if we hold a thought and the associated emotional energy for 68 seconds or more, we begin manifesting that thought? We feel it. We start reacting and most the time our reaction is fear based. If you let fear get the better of you, you’ll end up being locked within a prison of self doubt and this will have a negative impact upon your ability to grow in life and to try out new experiences. The important thing to remember is that although some events in life are naturally met by a feeling of fear.
So how can we work on our fears?
Simple, where there is love there is no fear. I know it sounds simple, in fact too simple. However, for just a moment think of the emotions that comes from love. Feelings and actions such as truth, honesty, trust, laughter, faith, empathy, hope, acceptance, kindness, happiness, optimistic, and of course courage keep fear far from us.
So be an observer! As you observe others in fear, you might want to make a decision to only observe. This action is the very thing that keeps the fear from being nourished. You do not add fuel to the fear, but you are given the opportunity to hold compassion in your heart (love) and shines that light of love into the darkness of the fear.
Visit Dr. Tyler Woods Website for the Walking in Fear workshop www.tylerwoods.org