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.