Fear & how to overcome fear... Salient points from Ajahn Brahm's Talk

p/s: Skip this if u r not interested... May contain some buddhist teachings...


Because of fear, We tend to exaggerate the situation and not see things as they are... Here are some examples that Ajahn Brahm used to illustrate how powerful fear can be...

Story one: While meditating in a jungle, a monk heard a sound... It was a soft noise, but because of fear, his thoughts started to run wild and the noise was amplified tremendously in his mind. He was convinced that the noise he heard was the stomping of an elephant. At last, he couldn't resist opening his eyes to catch a glimpse of the animal/object producing this disturbing noise. Imagine his surprise when he realised that the object that was making the supposed stomping sound was a rat...

Story two: A man who was trapped in a frozen cubicle thought that his end was nearing since the temperature in the frozen cubicle was normally subzero. He wrote a detailed account of his last moments, which was found along with his dead body next morning by his colleagues. It was later discovered that the thermostat was in fact switched off last night and the temperature had been normal room temperature ... The man was found tobe frozen to death by forensic pathologists.


How powerful and destructive fear can be... Many times, we allow fear to conquer our minds, incapitate and overwhelm us, wreck havoc in our personal lives instead of reining in fear and taking control over it.

Fear also cramps our minds up, prevents us from making rational decisions which in turn, making our worst fears come true. Eg, Just before an exam, most students , including me would try to sleep early, thinking that it's essential to have a good night rest to have a clear mind to think. But often, because of our own fears of not getting enough sleep deprives us of a good night sleep. As a result, the bad effects of not getting sufficient sleep manifests itself during exams and we are not able to concentrate and think well.


So what are the antidotes to fear?

First of all, we have to understand the origin of fear. Fear originates from the unduly high expectations we have of ourselves coupled with the continuous thoughts of how things can get wrong... we only think of how bad things can turn out and ignore how good things can turn out ..
To conquer fear, we ought to think positively and optimistically about the outcomes of events...
Instead of always thinking what if i fail, why not change your mindset by thinking "what if i succeed in this task"

If we think of the negative aspects of fear , it also helps us to cope with fear better. Fear causes us not to think rationally and logically, reduces our immunity to diseases, etc... So would u permit fear to live with u constantly or take on fear as an enemy and annihilate it ?

Of course, the true antidote to fear is to not have any expectations of ourselves, to completely let go of the attachments we grasp on so fervently in life. If there's no expectation , where is thy fear? If there's no attachment, where is thy fear???

ok, one of my fellow dc mates also mentioned that faith also helps in conquering fear, though i am not someone who places faith with such high regard. Faith must be coupled with true wisdom to produce the best effects.

ok, that's all...Hopefully the above points will be of some help to u in some way or another. A big thanks to Ajhan Brahm for giving such a brilliant talk on fear...