HOW TO OVERCOME FEAR J K SIVAN

HOW TO OVERCOME  FEAR  —  Nanganallur  J.K. Sivan
As this is very important and beneficial to all, i chose to write this in English in order that those of my friends, who dont read my regular posts on various topics in Tamil, and request my other Tamil knowing readers to please accept this with my request and digest the contents of this brief post.
There is a saying in English. ”Fools rush in where  angels fear to tread”.  Fools dont  stop to  think. They are guded by momentary emotion and hasty impulses.
When I think of Fear, I realise that most of us have a tendency to be afraid, without any rhyme or reason even about silly matters. We are afraid of so many things,  the most  important of it  being the Fear of Death.
The popular thinker and philosopher J.Krishnamurthy used to say ‘Death  is a pleasant experience because it is not only inevitable but it also frees one of disease, worry, attachment, possession and feelings about anyone or anything.  Even when situations warranted our frank opinion or decision concerning an important  issue, we are afraid of expressing our views.  We  dont  express our disagreement and  do not  protest anything  which appeals to us to b  ewrong. Instead we get emotionally upset accepting any insult without opposing it.  Many fear and are taught to fear God  which is unfortunate. God is never cruel and do not punish anyone.  In many houses, elders misguide the children that  God is watching their every action and will punish, even blinding the eye, if they did anything wrong. Children are thus misguided and form a wrong opinion about the loving God. They fear God  for no reason.

Another fear generally  is about  what will happen after death.   Some feel they have sinned much and so would be tortured and pushed into hell, where  hot burning oil would wait for them to be roasted. No. it is not so. May be  such a fearful idea was conveyed to  prevent one from commit ting wrongful actions and to put them on the righteous path.  

Every action has a simultaneous reaction. Good begets good  as love begets love.  ‘As you sow so you reap’ teaches adequately  thetruth instead of threats of torture and hell.

The life we live now on earth,  is in fact,  the heaven or hell — both being  of our own  making and  creation. One can live happily and create very happy and pleasant moments of every second he is timed to live,  for himself and others.  He has  option to  pollute  and cause an atmosphere of menace to  himself and others  as well.  Exercise of right choice is a must. 

Man is the form of what he thinks.  Man is his Mind.   His education,  personal background and character contribute greatly to what he is. A honest person, disciplined as he is, has nothing to fear and is always straight forward and bold. Nobody fears himself. Only those who have respect for their conscience and are aware fully of  their misdeeds,  show signs of restlessness and fear for consequence of what they intentionally and knowingly did , which they know is incorrect, improper or illegal.

No one is afraid of himself.  Fear is only towards  people and things other than him.  The  fear is restricted towards the  persons who  disagree with him, not  being of  same wave length and frequency, differing  with his way of thinking. The person who fears others, is much worried about the reaction of others and their behaviour.

Fear is an emotional product. We  need to handle it  carefully and calmly using our intellect.  We are afraid of voicing our views and express our objection when  we know we differ with what others say or do and feel it is not  right.

There is a fear of even opening the heart in love  because of the fear that the other person concerned can take advantage of it. There is fear of waking up in the morning for some as they have to face the world with the sunlight and this keeps them behind their covers until they cannot sleep any more.This is  psychological reflection of their mind. 

Fear arises when one is not confident of himself or aware that he is  doing a wrong thing.  Thought patterns are originated and stagnated in one’s mooladhaara chakra.  Mooladhaara means root base.   Our negative thoughts create the fear.  Until we  make an attempt  to overcome the negative thinking  fear will  continue to haunt.

Fear prevents  one  from acting boldly in situations where others take advantage of the situaton and exploit.  The powerful can  dominate and have a right of their way. What to do then?  The solution is:

1. Keep the mind calm, whatever may come. Let anyone do whatever they wish and  let anything happen around me, I shall remain calm, quiet and composed. I shall be happy and cheerful.  Then fear is  weakened and cannot oppress..

2 Pray to  God.  I cannot do everything as I wish, and I have to accept what comes. Let me do what is right and good as my conscience prompts me to do.  That is all. Result is not something for me to worry about. It is His domain.

Every one  in this world is born with fear and eliminating it absolutely is impossible.  When we are emotional,  fear is part of it.  Fear  necessitates building up  character and teaches us how to act with courage. Fear is a natural response for  all  when things are uncontrollable.
”Fear of the unknown” is the general term by which we refer to our fear for something  we haven’t anticipated, or exposed to before, something not thought about clear cut in our mind.  Direct confrontation with  such fear is the best way to overcome  it.  It will prove beneficial  when confronted   head on , with  a particular person or situation  we are  afraid of.  Mental strength to encounter the source of our fear removes the scare and fear we have about the  person  or situation.

Always be prepared to face and deal  with failure. Confronting a fear is hard.  It may not  always lead to a successful end . Yet we have  to confront the  fear many times before we  conquer it.   Don’t confuse fear with fate.

If you’re afraid of failure, you will feel  that it is your fate not to start  an action you  always wanted.  The truth is, you have the absolute power to  control your future. You have the power to determine the path you will take. Resist the temptation to hope things turn out for the best and leave it up to fate. This is the positive attitude.

Don’t let other people control you.  When someone feeds your fears, it kills your  enthusiasm, discourages you, brands you by telling you’re inadequate or incapable of changing.  Avoid such people  brainwashing you.

Surround yourself with people who want you to overcome your fears and reach your potential.   Courage can’t come into play unless you have a fear to face and solve. By owning your feelings you’ve taken the first step toward gaining control over the situation.

Sometimes fear makes itself known immediately, clearly, and other times it  is more difficult to name the cause of those anxious feelings lurking in the back of your mind. Let your fear rise to the surface and give it a name.Identify it. Write it down. Writing down your fear is a way to officially admit that you have a problem you want to overcome. Keeping a journal is a good way to track your progress as you work toward conquering your fear. It can serve as a guide for the next time you’ve got a problem that needs to be solved. You can overcome fear by facing it every time it comes your way, and, once you decide to make up your mind, your fears will dissolve away.