What is fear?
A definition given by the Collin’s Concise Dictionary states: Fear is a feeling of distress, apprehension, or alarm caused by impending danger, pain or even unknown situations. Fear can originate from a long ago incident, in early childhood perhaps, such as being bitten by a dog, a spider falling on you, or snake appearing out of nowhere and crossing your path. Such incidents can give rise to feelings of anxiety, insecurity, and worry. Situations such as these can worsen as time goes by, with the kind of thoughts associated with the past incidents.

What are the thoughts behind fear?
The more negative the thought one has about the snake, etc., the more the fear grows; for example, ‘the snake will kill me’, not that the venom can be fatal, or ‘the plane will crash when I am on it.’ Fear is irrational thinking and without treatment an individual can become incapacitated with this belief system. Fear now becomes a habit. In order to perpetuate this fear, not intentionally but subconsciously, the individual begins to justify the fear in thoughts like, ‘I am always like this’, or ‘I don’t like flying’. Some people are aware to a certain degree that there is irrationality in their thinking and behaviour patterns but they believe that nothing can be done for them. This sort of thinking process can lead to deep stress and depression.

How does fear affect the body?
Fear has psychological, physiological, emotional and environmental components that affects the body by revealing signs and symptoms depending on what the perceived danger is. For example, there is apprehension of touching a spider or snake. Signs and symptoms may be sweating, dry mouth, palpitation, and the feeling of the need to run away. Some people can even wet themselves because the feeling engendered by the thought that the spider or snake will kill them is so overwhelming.

Who is affected by fear?
Everyone is afraid of something at sometime in his or her life. However, with the right positive thinking and a change in belief system, fears can dissipate.

Can it be treated?
Yes, most fears can be treated in some way. There are different methods and each have varying degrees of effectiveness.

Methods of treatment
Desensitisation, confronting the feared object or person, or psychological treatments all help; as will getting the individual to own, accept and understand what is happening to them and develop a new belief system. Here is a Relaxation Meditation for overcoming fear. Try this simple visualization to let go of fear and anxiety.

1. Sitting in a comfortable position for meditation, with a straight back, close your eyes and breathe naturally through our nose.
2. Then spend a little time identifying what it is you are currently afraid of.
3. Try to identify your unfounded, unhealthy fears, such as the fear of dying, the fear of loss, the fear of failure, and so forth.
4. Using your wisdom, try to understand that all these fears, and imagined dangers, arise because of your mind’s negative associations.
5. Then visualize these fears together with their actual causes (negative associations) in the form of dense thick smoke and breathe it out. This smoke leaves your nostrils and disappears to the furthest reaches of space, where it completely disappears, never to return.
6. As you inhale, imagine you are breathing in all the pure, inspiring energy and fearlessness of all holy beings in the form of blissful white light, which fills our body and mind.
7. After meditating like this for a while, feel that your body and mind are now completely pure and that you have received the blessings and protection of all holy beings. Your body feels light and supple, and your mind is clear, peaceful, and fearless.

This entry was posted on Friday, June 15th, 2007 at 9:36 am and is filed under health and beauty. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.