Fear And How To Overcome It ?
© 2007 Alexander Michaels
Article # 1488
Fear is a very basic human instinct. In fact all living things from the smallest creatures to the largest and most powerful experience fear. We know that most human and animal behavior evolve for the benefit of each species. So if fear is so common then it must be very beneficial in some way otherwise it would have disappeared as animals evolved.
What are the benefits of fear?:
What are the benefits of fear? The main benefit is that it is a warning and self defense mechanism designed to keep you out of danger. If you have ever disturbed a procession of ants you would have noticed how they panic and run around trying to get away from the source of danger. This is because they do not want to be squashed. In this instance their fears could be what stops them from losing their lives. When a lion starts chasing a herd of buffalo you can see that the buffalo have definite reasons to be fearful. The ones that are not alert or fast enough are likely to get eaten. So fear can protect you in many circumstances.
What are you afraid of?:
So what are humans afraid of? In most parts of the world humans now have so much control of their environment and the animals around them that they have very little to fear in the old physical survival sense. The problem we humans have as a species is that 90% or more of our fears are constructed in our minds and have nothing to do with basic survival. Rather, most of our fears are about our abilities or lack thereof of maintaining our relationships with each other and not wanting to do things or behave in ways that we think may not meet the approval of our peers or the apparent accepted current social standards.
Dangers of too much fear:
Most of our fears are learnt from childhood and become engrained as we become adults. After a while the fears form such strong patterns in our brains that we do not even have to remember the original source of the fears or the accuracy of the source of the fears to suffer the effects of them. When fear is not under control or when it is not based on accurate information then the results can be very debilitating. This level of uncontrolled fear forces us to limit our expectations, accept less than we are worth, worry about things that are outside of our control, and generally live less happy and fulfilling lives than we should.
How do you recover from a life saturated with fear? Sometimes you have to shock yourself out of it by taking massive action and facing your fears. If you need to get something done and you are filled with fear but logically you know that it won’t hurt you or that the risks are very minimal, you should will yourself to action and just get started. Don’t look at this as being fearless. Admit your feelings to your self that you are scared but tell yourself that you have decided to take the action anyway. This way if fear suddenly begins to overtake you in the middle of everything it will not be a surprise. You have already made up your mind and you will continue no matter what.
Overcoming fear:
People that have learnt to overcome their fears do this all the time. Do you think that firemen are not scared of being hurt when they are fighting fires? They know there are risks involved and they are trained to minimize their exposure to these risks. However when it comes time to take action they have learnt to put their fears to the side and let action rein. The funny thing is that once you decide to accept that you have fear and decide that you will take action anyway, a certain kind of calm comes over you.
You brain decides that OK, since you are going to be doing this anyway it might as well give you what you need to preserve yourself. So you gain inner calm just before taking action and you can be confident that when needed your adrenaline will kick in and give you whatever strength you need to get the job done. Taking positive, courageous, mental and physical action is the main method of curing fear. It can be challenging and difficult work though but fortunately there are systems that have been developed to make it easier to go from a life of fear to a life of courage and to stay there.
Copyright © 2007 by Alexander Michaels
Alexander Michaels is an author or self-development and wealth creation books and courses. He is the author of Secretes Of Self Mastery, Broke to Millionaire In 90 Days and From Fear To Courage. To see more of his articles and books visit: http://www.selfdevelopment.org or http://www.broketomillionairein90days.com.
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