Fear

We all have had the experience of fear. It is by it’s very definition imaginary. The dictionary meaning is - An unpleasant feeling triggered by the perception of danger, real or imagined. 

The funny thing is that although the meaning states imagined in the definition, most of us tend to believe it is real. This is the reason why statements like “ overcome fear “ and “ conquer ones fear “ are very popular. The actual meaning if one wants to understand it has to be discovered by looking at the response and the mental state. When one looked at these two things together one understands that fear is an emotional response to a perceived danger or threat, which causes a behavioural or mental response . The response pulse be getting aggressive or running away or then submitting. The response is based on external stimuli which act and help towards reinforcing the perception. 

What a brilliant negative feedback loop. All thanks to how we as individuals do that almost instantaneous initial risk assessment. Given the fact that most folks are not good at the instant decision because they have not trained their mind to look out for the pitfalls; it is but natural that the risk assessment more often than not will make a mountain out of a mole hill. What then of those two over used statements ? Overcome or conquer ? In my opinion we don’t overcome or conquer fear but need to understand the emotion and need to understand the response to that emotion. All of us can be fearless. 

Psychology says that fear could be rational or irrational. Nope it’s is irrational. There is nothing that can logically say that your cognitive capabilities have concluded an outcome that would be so undesirable that it would result in you making decisions based on non-fact. I could go on to conclude that there is wool that has been stretched across your cognitive abilities if one believes in the outcome perceived by said abilities. 

How does one work with this then ? Obviously there is learnt fear (due to situational conditioning) , innate fear ( cognitive capabilities that have not matured) , phobias ( irrational extreme) and fear of the unknown (it’s the same as innate fear - one has not matured enough in cognitive capabilities and would then be worried about the lack of knowledge I.e the unknown). One has to understand that the drivers for the cognitive structure ( in other words your thoughts) are logically inconsistent and one of them could be based in non-fact. Simple eh ? Nope it requires a lot of effort to understanding how one thinks and understanding what is imaginary vs real. The best way to deal with this is to recall each situation of fear and analyse it without any emotional bondage. That is to say look at your fear as a third person would. This analysis will help one identify the triggers and external stimuli that would push one into that negative feedback loop. Understanding this loop is the best way to get out of it. 

Years ago Dad explained FEAR as false emotion appearing real. That definition stays with me. 

C