In our busy and complicated lives, our mind must deal with numerous details as we plan and orchestrate our lives. Our mind can shift effortlessly from present reality to past incidents or future possibilities within seconds. When considering our future, whether that future is one hour or ten years away, the mind can creatively project us into any situation it chooses, and often it does. If we are generally a positive person, most of these projections will be of a positive nature. Likewise if we are generally a negative person, most of our projections will be negative.
Understanding how our mind works helps us understand ourselves and our present situation, which brings me to the topic of fear. How do we deal with fear when it happens to us?
Fear is the result of our mind becoming fixated on images of an undesirable situation we “fear” will happen to us in the future. The effects of this fear are very real, and they have their consequences. It is not just an unpleasant experience to be ignored or accepted stoically. Fear is a very powerful force that those who are unaware of Mind Power often use against themselves. Even those of us who understand and practice Mind Power can fall within fear’s grasp if we are not diligent.
Fear is the mind projecting within itself images of what it does not want to happen. If the fear is not recognized and dealt with early on, it can and will find root within our consciousness. When this happens fear then becomes a daily occurrence, and if these thoughts are allowed to repeat themselves over and over again, they will eventually take an imprint on a subconscious level. Once this happens the subconscious mind begins to attract the exact experiences we have been projecting. I want to say it is Mind Power in reverse, but it is not. It is yet another example of how Mind Power works so effectively even when we use it unwittingly against ourselves. A better analogy would be to say it is like driving a car in reverse when we want to go forward. There is no point complaining, “What is wrong with this car?” Instead ask yourself, “Why do I have the car in reverse?” Likewise when you are in the grips of fear ask yourself, “Why am I projecting images in my mind of events that I don’t want to happen?”
This month’s topic was inspired by a newspaper article I read several days ago. The headline was. “Woman’s whale phobia comes true.” Let me quote you parts of the article.
“A Labrador woman with a lifelong whale phobia was badly injured after an unidentified whale slapped her with its tail on the maiden voyage of her husband’s new boat. Brenda Hancock was struck in the head by the tail of a submerging whale in the Labrador Straits region of Forteau Bay on Sunday. “I guess I’m lucky to be alive,” Ms. Hancock said yesterday from her hospital bed. She suffered heavy bruising on her neck and head, and both her eyes are bruised and bloodshot. “It’s freaky,” said her husband, “because we were going along pretty good and she said, ‘Slow down’ and it’s like we slowed down just like we were waiting for the whale to hit.”
“He slowed down to a crawl,” Ms Hancock said, “and all I remember is this awful bang on my head, as if someone hit me with a piece of two-by-four.” It wasn’t lumber, however, it was the tail end of an enormous whale that clocked Ms Hancock in the back of the head, nearly sending her overboard and tearing off the windshield of the boat in the process.”
“My wife,” Mr. Hancock added, “was sitting at the back of the boat, next to my brother – who wasn’t touched.”
The article concluded by saying, “Ms. Hancock has a self-professed lifelong phobia of whales and doesn’t think she’ll venture out into the ocean anytime soon.”
Now there are hundreds of thousands of people yearly who whale watch without incident, and millions who boat the oceans. Isn’t it interesting that this freak accident should happen to someone with a whale phobia (i.e., fear of whales)? It is too much of a coincidence to ignore. Never underestimate the power of fear. Professional coaches who prepare their athletes to win know well that when an athlete has a “fear of losing,” they have already lost. Unless they can change their “fear of losing” to an “expectation of winning,” their chances of winning are slim to none.
The same is true with health. Fear of poor health or illness means you’re thinking thoughts of poor health and illness, in fact focusing on poor health and illness, and we all know and understand what the likely outcome will be if we continue. Fear of failure, fear of poverty, fear of never getting ahead, fear of never meeting someone to share your life with, fear of ______ (you fill in the blank) is almost always setting in motion the exact events we do not want. It is sowing in the fertile inner garden of the mind seeds for plants we don’t want to reap. It is ludicrous, counterproductive and totally unnecessary.
Now let me be clear that not all our day-to-day concerns are fears. Nor do we not take obvious precautions and maintain normal diligence. Fear is something different. It is obsessive and dominates us in a way that is not rational. It far oversteps the boundaries of normal concerns, and if we are not careful it will find a secure abode in our mind, where it can grow and paralyze our thought process.
How to Eliminate Fears
- Never let a concern turn into a fear. Concerns are fine; fears are unacceptable. Be ruthless in eliminating fears before they take root.
- When you know what it is that you don’t want to happen to you, that’s great. It is actually a great advantage to know what it is that you fear. Now here’s the key. Don’t think those thoughts. Create visualizations and affirmations on the exact opposite of what the fear is suggesting. If you fear poverty – visualize and affirm prosperity. If you fear sickness – visualize and affirm health. If you fear failure – visualize and affirm success. I think you get the idea.
- Think of fears as negatives and use the four techniques for eliminating negatives
(See Eliminating Negatives) - Develop a positive attitude. Fears have less chance of establishing roots in an individual with a positive attitude, as opposed to one with a negative attitude.
One cannot have a healthy productive life when you are obsessed with a fear. Treat fears as uninvited guests, even intruders, and toss them out whenever you find them. Always remember there is absolutely no reason to fear anything. Fear is never warranted. Never. It is always counterproductive, and as such we shun it like the plague.
