While the brain is an organ and the mind represents the faculty of thought, intellect and consciousness. The power of the mind needs to be magnified and enhanced to conquer fear.
The cell phone rang and seconds later dropped from her hands. There was an agonising silence across the continents. Ashok’s (name changed) mother had received the call; the strapping youngster had left planet earth. Her only son, a brilliant student, had committed suicide. He was overwhelmed by the fear of under achievement.
Bill Maher writes, “Suicide is man’s way of telling God; you can’t fire me, I quit.” But do brave men commit suicide? It appears to be a permanent solution for a transitory problem.
Let us juxtapose this life with the lives of achievers like Major Mukund Vardarajan and Lance Naik Mohan Nath Goswami who died combating ultras during peacetime. These men in fatigues annihilated fear and were awarded with the highest gallantry award in India- the Ashok Chakra.
Several winters back I was on deputation to the Movement Directorate of the Army Headquarters, New Delhi. The only civilian among Fauji’s, one of my colleague’s was Col SS Yadav who served at several perilous locations. He narrated how the IPKF grappled with LTTE militants in the inhospitable terrain of Sri Lanka. The army fought fearlessly against a supremely motivated guerrilla outfit and endured severe causalities.
Marcus Trescothick and Chetan Sharma come to mind. The former suffered from xenophobia in the subcontinent, which resulted in his departure to England midway.And the latter after being hit for that last ball six at Sharjah by Javed Miandad lost his mojo and rhythm.
Fear, anxiety,emotional upheavals, unpleasant feelings, panic attacks and phobias are all symptomatic of a fragile and a delicate mind.It is an expression of an unpleasant emotion caused by threat of danger or pain. A fragmented mind cannot clearly distinguish between what is logical and what is not. Such minds have a greater propensity to develop irrational fears.
People suffer from extreme or irrational fear or aversion. This is nothing but what is called phobia (Greek word for fear). Trescothik suffered from xenophobia whereas the army personnel embraced death fearlessly. Some suffer fear of ghosts; others fear darkness or even sex.
People harbouring fear suffer from panic attacks, sweaty palms, disturbed sleep, palpitations, shortness of breath,
inability to remain calm, dry mouths and numbness of feet and hands.
A contributor to the magnification of fears is our pent up emotions. These emotions are not based on a rational or a scientific thinking pattern.It is primarily based on situations and immature reactions. We tend to react rather than respond. Negative emotions impact our behavioural patterns. We end up violently or irrationally reacting rather than responding in a nubile manner.
Gretchen Rubin writes, “Negative emotions like loneliness, envy and guilt have an important role to play in a happy life: they’re big reliving flashing signs that something needs to change.”
Humans should be prudent to ponder that if left untreated this situation can become mourning regalia. A person can suffer from psychosomatic illnesses, loss of appetite, self-deprecatory behaviour or even schizophrenia. This has a multiplier effect in form of morbid thoughts, persecution complexes and even hallucination.
An element of fear is perhaps required, because then we can patrol our fences. However this needs to be distinguished from false bravado. Such an attitudewill only tantamount tomere filibustering or posturing. Perhaps the only fearless people are sages and mentally deranged personalities. They are insulated from fear.
While the brain is an organ and the mind represents the faculty of thought, intellect and consciousness. Thepower of the mind needs to be magnified and enhanced to conquer fear.
It is the character of the mind to play, rewind and rerun the enormous number of dramas enacted in the movie called ‘Life’. What we chose to replay is based on our idiosyncrasies and the state of our mind.
If we are closeted with individuals who harbour negative thought processes, we imbibe such attributes and evince such a behavioural pattern. That man is known by the company he keeps is a very old adage. Suppose we have inspirational friends, achievers in our orbit, we too would tread such a path.
Thoughts are also impacted by the kind of food we partake (Tamasic, Rajasik or Sattvik). The quality (guna) of food has a bearing on our disposition and approach to life. As per Ayurveda, Tamsic food makes us sluggish, Rajasik food creates a feverish or anxious disposition while Sattvik food instils qualities of tranquillity. A placid and serene individual is certainly better equipped to deal with any ghoulish or macabre thoughts which may arise in comparison with a somnolent or flustered mind.
It is cardinal to have adequate physical and mental rest. If we are relaxed, then we are at peace and do not complain or quibble; we are physically and mentally alert and high yielding.
In order to unhitch ourselves from fear inducing thoughts – factual or fictional- we need to create the mental space to just dump the garbage which disappears into the recycle bin.
It is imperative to make our minds our ally by nourishing it through passions, hobbies, indulging in sports, avoid negative company taking up social responsibility, footslogging on the treadmill , going for long walks, reading autobiographies of entrepreneurs and achievers.
There are others who embrace the spiritual path by practising Pranayama, learning yoga, practising meditation, undertaking the Art of Living course or observing the breath through the Vipassana technique. The power of the mind enhances the consciousness and the size of the fear reduces.
To conquer fear we need to log out of the comfort zone so that the virus of fear does not enter our operating system. And if nothing works out, the magic is to surrender to the Divine and feel grateful.
