Look Away From Fear

I am not a psychologist, or a guru, or even a student of any related field. But this I have learned ‒ there is nothing in this world as debilitating as fear. The more unreasonable it is, the more it clamps down on your soul. We are yet to comprehend the power of thought. What we think, happens. I am not venturing into manifestation of physical reality through thought, though I am certain it is possible. I do believe that we unconsciously brighten or darken the world around us all the time.

Pretty self-evident, right? Thought, to action, to effect. But our thoughts affect ourselves more than we realize. We are what we believe; we do what we think we should. We can think ourselves into happiness or into sorrow. We can turn our day around by making ourselves feel differently with intention. The banality of having the need for a good coffee has deeper connotations!

But real thought, the most powerful feeling, lies deep within our psyche. It is the compassion that we feel for the suffering of another; it is the obstinate hope for a better day; it is unbidden joy in someone’s smile. It is the unthinking reaching out in a crisis to God, or family, or a friend. It is fascination for a colour, and the revulsion of a sound. It is the memory associated with a smell.

We develop this core of thought throughout our lives. Life events shake and reorganize it ‒ and change us ‒ continually. When principles and beliefs are strengthened, so are we. When not, fear creeps in and takes over. It is not that we will cower in the dark, or run around screaming. Unconscious fear creates doubt insidiously. Doubt in our core abilities, doubt in our control of the future, or of the present.
By its very definition, fear is illogical and therefore uncontrollable. When you cannot make a decision, the fear is not of making the wrong one; it is the underlying fear of everything going wrong. Sometimes not wanting to start your day is not about depression, it is the fear that it might bring what you cannot deal with. At its worst, a simple act of buying an outfit becomes a journey through a series scenarios of all that could go wrong from purchase to wearing.

Like glowing eyes in a dark forest, fear holds your focus.

Until you look away.

I find it best to ignore it as best I can. But even to ignore something, you have to acknowledge it is there. Bring it out of unconscious thought. Know it’s there, but do not listen to it. Like a lot of nasty, fanatical, fear-mongering idiots out there, not paying attention to your fears makes them ineffective. Do the opposite of what the fear is threatening. Believe in the opposite of what that fearful thought portrays.

Our fear is not invincible, we are.