Heebie-jeebies! We all have fear about something or the other. Some fear the future, some have fear of heights, some fear failure. Most of our fears are related to our past experiences. Our imaginations play a very important role to make reality appear scarier than it is.
Have you ever seen small children. They are never scared of trying new things. But as we grow, we experience different things; some of them turn out to be good experiences and some bad experiences. It is very difficult to forget these bad experiences and which at times, turn into fear or phobia. And then when you encounter the same situations again, the traumas or bad experiences trigger a fear response within us, you start imagining different things. The more you entertain such thoughts, the more it will master you.
Let me share an example:
A 9 year old girl was told to husk a coconut for the first time. She took the butcher knife and hit hard on the coconut. An off-target and she chopped her left thumb nail. A few months later, she was asked to grate coconut using a traditional coconut scrapper. She went on without any fear and accidentally cut her left thumb resulting into a surgery.
As the years past by, she developed her interest in cooking. She would try different recipes, but avoid all recipes which had one ingredient in common - COCONUT.
Every time she thought about adding coconut, she remembered all the past incidents and her mind would get stuck in a whirlpool of thoughts. She would imagine her thumb or hand getting cut or hitting the butcher’s knife in her forehead.
Many years later, her mother told her to crack the coconut using butcher knife.
Imaginary thoughts started running in her mind. She tried her best to escape but couldn't succeed. As her mother forced her, she turned more wild with fear. She was almost scared to death but her mother didn’t give up. She pushed her no matter what she said and finally, boo-yah. She cracked the coconut shell.
She was happy as she now knows that she can do this task easily, but was sad as she realized that because of her fears, she never tried it. She had allowed herself to be a slave of fear. If and only if she had to face her fear, she would have tried ample more recipes.
The 9 year child won every time she avoided coconut. We encounter similar situations in our life. The fear is in our mind and we should not allow that 9 year old child to control us. We should put back that child to its place.
To overcome your fear, first, you need to identify your fear and then take actions towards it. When you take action towards your fear, they become weaker.
Secondly, control your imaginations. Although it is difficult to control the thoughts, you can try to change them by thinking positively instead of thinking something bad that can happen.
Fear no colours and you may discover a better YOU.
Have you ever seen small children. They are never scared of trying new things. But as we grow, we experience different things; some of them turn out to be good experiences and some bad experiences. It is very difficult to forget these bad experiences and which at times, turn into fear or phobia. And then when you encounter the same situations again, the traumas or bad experiences trigger a fear response within us, you start imagining different things. The more you entertain such thoughts, the more it will master you.
Let me share an example:
A 9 year old girl was told to husk a coconut for the first time. She took the butcher knife and hit hard on the coconut. An off-target and she chopped her left thumb nail. A few months later, she was asked to grate coconut using a traditional coconut scrapper. She went on without any fear and accidentally cut her left thumb resulting into a surgery.
As the years past by, she developed her interest in cooking. She would try different recipes, but avoid all recipes which had one ingredient in common - COCONUT.
Every time she thought about adding coconut, she remembered all the past incidents and her mind would get stuck in a whirlpool of thoughts. She would imagine her thumb or hand getting cut or hitting the butcher’s knife in her forehead.
Many years later, her mother told her to crack the coconut using butcher knife.
Imaginary thoughts started running in her mind. She tried her best to escape but couldn't succeed. As her mother forced her, she turned more wild with fear. She was almost scared to death but her mother didn’t give up. She pushed her no matter what she said and finally, boo-yah. She cracked the coconut shell.
She was happy as she now knows that she can do this task easily, but was sad as she realized that because of her fears, she never tried it. She had allowed herself to be a slave of fear. If and only if she had to face her fear, she would have tried ample more recipes.
The 9 year child won every time she avoided coconut. We encounter similar situations in our life. The fear is in our mind and we should not allow that 9 year old child to control us. We should put back that child to its place.
To overcome your fear, first, you need to identify your fear and then take actions towards it. When you take action towards your fear, they become weaker.
Secondly, control your imaginations. Although it is difficult to control the thoughts, you can try to change them by thinking positively instead of thinking something bad that can happen.
Fear no colours and you may discover a better YOU.
Comments
Post a Comment