F.E.A.R — There is no Illusion, Greater than Fear
I was inspired to write this article when COVID-19 first broke out in the news. As a world, we were utterly shocked by how serious this situation was. I believe all rational sense went out the window, and fear started to overconsume all of us. This article was written not to feed the fear but to become aware of what it is so that we can control it when it surfaces. To learn to empower yourself and how you respond to situations, events or pivots in your life. Enjoy
Forget Everything and Run
From the news, internet, social media, and our televisions to our Political Conversations, present Civil Wars across countries, Environmental Destruction, Nuclear War Threats, and Biological Disasters, with the addition of Historical and Religious Predictions and Astrological Timing, we are overwhelmed, flooded with messages of fear. Today, Humans feel more afraid of the world and our neighbours than they have in decades. Though, this fear is not suitable for us. In fact, according to neuroscientists such as; Kerry Ressler, Kay M Tye, Joseph E. Le Doux and others, “Fear is Killing Us.”
What is Fear?
According to Catherine M Pittman, MD, Fear is a chain reaction in the brain. It begins when faced with a terrifying stimulus, such as a Bear, A Shark, A kidnapper, A murderer, Jumping from high Places, Insecurity, War, Phobias, Darkness, Isolation, etc. Your body prepares itself to protect itself from danger. If a knife is pressed to your throat, a wolf crosses your path, or you hear a creak or window open in your home, you experience a reaction to the response. The Adrenal Glands release hormones Cortisol and NorAdrenaline; Adrenaline causes panic and anxiety; your heart will race, your muscles will tense up, your temperature will rise, and your breath quickens. Your body experiences Fight-or-Flight mode; you are ready to do anything and everything you need to keep yourself safe.
The entire reaction begins in the Thalamus, which receives signals from the body’s senses. The reaction can take two different paths. The least rational is the quickest response to life-threatening situations, such as being threatened by a serial killer or being attacked by a wolf. Your Thalamus will alert the amygdala, which will trigger emotional responses to your hypothalamus, signalling the adrenal glands to rush hormones, Adrenaline and Cortisol into the blood so you run away from danger.
The second path is the most Rational response; the slowest happens if the situation is not life-threatening. Thus, when you see something that is scary or frightening, but you are not in immediate danger, such as a spider on your wall or seeing something terrible on the news, your amygdala will send a signal to the prefrontal and sensory cortex, in which will alert the hippocampus for comparison to past threats in your memory center. If it realizes that the frightening stimulus is not life-threatening, your senses are heightened to a superhuman degree, triggering fight-flight.
These responses are helpful, although the speed and complexity of it can be detrimental to our nervous system and, thus, our whole body's health. Medical Doctor Lissa Rankin states, “Fear predisposes you to illness and makes recovery difficult.”
The brain stores the details of that particular stimulus — smell, taste, sound, visuals, time, place, etc., in your long-term memory. Thus, when a similar stimulus shows up, your body responds the same way, known as “fear conditioning.” These things have an effect on your memory as well as your body. It can weaken your health, causing you to constantly feel anxiety, depression, insomnia, fatigue, etc. This, of course, accelerates aging and even premature death.
If you are someone with Chronic fear, The world always looks scary, and the memories are always there to confirm this. Fear can interrupt many processes in our brain that allow us to read nonverbal cues and information, such as reflecting before acting, regulating our emotions, and acting ethically. Fear impacts our thinking and decision-making negatively because we view it from a negative perspective by thinking events will go wrong. This can make us susceptible to more aggressive emotions and impulsive reactions.
Face Everything and Rise
“Love, faith, and pleasure are preventative medicine and highly effective treatment.” — Medical Doctor Lissa Rankin.
Constantly being filled with messages of fear can cause adverse reactions to your body and psyche. Although, you don’t have to accept them. You can train your body, your mind and yes, even your spirit and beat fear.
When your body relaxes, the sympathetic nervous system completely shuts off. The hormones which damage the body, cortisol and adrenaline, drop and stop being released into the bloodstream. This is where the parasympathetic nervous system takes over, and the immune system flips back on so the body can continue its natural self-repairing process. Your mind indeed can heal your body. “This is not some New Age Spiritual Metaphysical Thing; it’s simple physiology :). “
You can train yourself to think positively and switch your mind from Fear-based to love-based.
“Between stimulus and response, there is space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and freedom” — Victor E. Frankl.
A particular memory is called “Fear Extinction” to overcome fear. This involves creating a new response to the fear stimuli, which means making positive connections to what scared the S%&T out of you. For example, If you see a spider on a beautiful canvas wall in your home and start looking at that wall without the spider on it every day, your fear response can be rewritten. Choosing to see the positive in that memory instead of the negative scared you(in this case, the spider)and caused you to fear. The Amygdala associates the memory with the freezing response, training it to be associated with something less horrifying than the spider.
When the amygdala rewrites your memory, you are free of fear. You control your response to worry; the fear does not control you. This can also be known as Self-Efficacy.
“Self-efficacy is the belief in one’s ability to influence events that affect one’s life and control over how these events are experienced.” — Psychologist (Bandura, 1994).
How to Overcome Fear
1. Waking up and Being Aware
Before overcoming your fear, you must wake up to what scares you. You need to identify it and become aware of it to be able to set yourself free. It is easy to become attached to your thoughts to the point where you feel they are real but not. You do not identify with your fears but can observe them through awareness.
2. Asking the right Questions
Ask yourself where the fears stem from and why your thoughts produce these types of worries. How does the fear make you feel, and where do you think it is in your body? How are you reacting? Observe yourself and what is happening.
3. Being Present
Acknowledge if you are centred. Are you living in the future of what is to come but has yet not passed? Or are you in the now, are you being? Do you recognize where you are and what you have now? Most fears are produced by time travelling through our minds to the “What ifs” and “hows.”
4. Journaling
It is essential to release and express your fears and emotions on paper. Writing down what is happening in your mind and how this fear makes you feel allows you to see the situation objectively, not to mention if it’s rational or not. It also allows you to release the thoughts instead of circling in your mind and affecting your body.
5. Self-care
Doing activities that are good for your body, mind, and soul will help you relax and turn off the center in your brain that causes the fear. Eating healthy, nutritious food, stretching your body, exercising, doing house chores, reading a good book, taking a nice bath, getting 8 hours of sleep a night and talking to your loved ones. This will not only feed your body with positivism, but you will also boost your immune system and positive physiological responses.
6. Meditation and Breath-work
The way we breathe impacts our stress levels, thus focusing on letting go of what we cannot control and putting ourselves in a relaxation state; breathing slowly and with awareness allows your body, mind and spirit to relax, be in the moment and let go of all attachments that keep you from feeling peace and contentment.
7. Gratitude
Write down three to five things that you are grateful for. By recognizing the blessings and beautiful gifts you have in your life, seeing that you are abundant. Recognizing the friends, family, clothes, water, food, love and laughter you have in your life will help put events into perspective. You will realize that you are not alone and will be more inclined to be in the present, present, and being.
