Looking at today’s world there is much to be afraid of. From war to climate emergency, to rising fascism, to AI, there are many issues that can trigger fear. And that fear can stimulate many reactions within us. These reactions over time can negatively impact how we think, how we feel and how we act. If we only look at the unpleasant and painful experience of those reactions, it makes sense that we would look for strategies on how to deal with those reactions and dispel our fear. And if we cannot find effective strategies, our fears can transform into anxiety. Chronic fear and anxiety of the future become our default state.
But what is fear? There is the physiological roadmap of what we identify as fear when body responds to a threat: alarm, activation, reaction. Yet what is our experience? Imagine being with a child as you both are walking down the street. And suddenly find yourself having to avoid a car that is racing towards you both. What does your body do? It moves with the appropriate speed and skill to protect that child and avoid being hit. It does so in milliseconds and without thought. Your cognition may even expand to experience it more fully. Time may seem to slow down. You become fully present, completely undistracted by extraneous thought. You are fully here and now, completely engaged for that brief moment. There is no doubt and no hesitation. In many ways you become superhuman for a short instant. There are many examples and anecdotes about these types of superhuman reactions to crisis and threat. And for many of you this is something you have probably already experienced.
If that mechanism that we call fear, brings us to a state of hyper response, how do we end up developing a negative relationship with it?
If we are unable to respond to a threat immediately, if that threat is a projected idea of something in the future, or it is threat that we are unable to directly respond to, it can leave us in an activated state that over time is unsustainable on our nervous system, causing a systemic breakdown. This can lead us to try to mitigate that activation with different strategies and techniques. We attempt to lessen our fear. Fear has become a problem.
If we were successful at removing our fear from our nervous system, how would we react to a car about to hit us? Would we be compelled to move? Would we become more present, more awake, more fully here? What would our experience be?
What if fear is the mechanism that is meant to bring out our best in a split second? What if fear is the key to accessing our inner superpower? How would we experience fear if we appreciated it as an ally rather than an enemy?