MY WORLD OF TRUTH

                                                      Healthy Fear.


Fear. Many people automatically assume that fear in unhealthy and
doesn’t serve a purpose. Hence, the term ‘don’t worry, be happy’ may
not always work in our favor. True, we should all learn not to sweat
the small stuff and let things slide if they are unnecessarily causing us
harm, physically, emotionally or spiritually. But learning to
differentiate between healthy fear and unhealthy fear can
benefit us because healthy fear can and will benefit us in the
long run.

In Buddhism, it is actually taught that we should try to ignore or
eliminate unhealthy fear and embrace healthy fear.
An example of unhealthy fear is a fear of lizards and insects. The fear
is real although the danger is not. We get squeamish and avoid bugs
and insects because we fear them. But bugs and insects don’t hurt us,
they cannot. Hence, the fear is unfounded. An example of healthy fear
is a fear of cancer or death. We all know that cancer and death are
real. Most of us have to agree that we are afraid to die especially from
an incurable disease like cancer. The fear is termed healthy fear
because it may help us quit smoking or taking drugs. The healthy fear
can steer us in the right direction because we’re afraid of getting
cancer or a deadly disease like AIDS.

You will be surprised; many people have different types of fears. The
most common ones are insects and death, the ones we’ve used in the
paragraphs above. But there are people who have profound fear of
heights, fear of being separated from their loved ones, fear of losing
control of their lives, fear of driving, fear of the dark, etc.
The fears are real or as real as it can be for the person experiencing it.
But the fears can be snuffed out. We can control it or reduce the effect
it has on us. Using mind control, we can eliminate the control it has
over our actions and daily decisions. We should eliminate all
unhealthy fears (as many of them as possible) and control or make
use of our healthy fears.
In understanding and recognizing the healthy fears we have in our
lives, we will need to learn how to make use of the healthy fears or do

something positive about it. For example, if someone is afraid of
dying of cancer because he smokes heavily, there’s no point of him
knowing that he should do something about it and not do anything.
He must make an effort to recognize the fear and then use it to stop
his smoking habits.
There are many ways in which we can learn how to control our fears
or utilize them. For one, we can take up Yoga to learn how to calm our
inner self down. We can learn how to have more self-confidence. We
can start journal writing to put our thoughts into words, turning our
thoughts into words can be extremely helpful. We can also join
support groups or gather with a bunch of friends to relate our
experiences, fears and sadness – it will help connect all participants
and we can lend a helping hand to each other. Connecting with others
who have the same fears can be so helpful because you will finally
understand that you’re not alone. Support is always only a phone call
away.