Let not your heart be troubled (I)

Virtually everywhere you look today there is fear staring one in the face. There is so much uncertainty, insecurity and hopelessness. Things seem to be getting from bad to worse. The newspaper headlines are awash with one negative heart wrenching news or the other.

With the way things are it seems illogical not to fear. The pandemic which has claimed millions of lives makes one to shudder and fear. Fear grips our heart as we see the insecurity in the society that has led to unnecessary loss of lives. Fear invades our hearts when we see what is happening to the global economy. Fear seems to be the logical thing that occupies our minds when we see the corruption that pervades our society.

The problem is we cannot go too far in life with fear in our lives. We must banish fear from our hearts at these trying times, else we will go through life full of anxiety, worries and unhappiness.

Fear can be handled and eliminated. Fear is a natural human emotion which must be handled well. Psychiatrists tell us that we are only born with two kinds of fear – the fear of falling and the fear of loud noise. They say all other fears are learnt. If you think about this well, you will discover this is true. If you notice you will discover small children don’t fear anything until the adults “teach” them. A small child is “fearless” until he is taught to fear. A small child wants to play with fire until we teach him to fear it.

Fear can either be positive or negative.

“Fear has two meanings: ‘Forget Everything And Run’ or ‘Face Everything And Rise.’ The choice is yours.” Zig Ziglar

The problem is that fear is more of a negative than a positive emotion.

“Fear of danger is ten thousand times more terrifying than danger itself.” Daniel Defoe

Fear cripples and paralyzes. “No power so effectually robs the mind of all its powers of acting and reasoning as fear.” Edmund Burke

Fear closes the door to liberty. It destroys our joy. It creates unnecessary tension and anxiety. Fear adversely affects our thinking process.

“Don’t fear failure so much that you refuse to try new things. The saddest summary of a life contains three descriptions: could have, might have, and should have.” Louis E. Boone

Most decisions taken when fear is dominant are usually wrong. Fear is a killer.

“Cowards die many times before their death” – W. Shakespeare

In view of the times we live in, we need to be very careful that fear does not become our motivation for doing things. We must put fear in proper perspective so we don’t get unnecessarily encumbered from reaching our maximum potential.

TO BE CONTINUED

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