Professional Documents
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Overcoming Fear
Overcoming Fear
Overcoming Fear
Illusory Fears
Though just as genuinely felt, illusory
fears are based upon misperceptions
—false commands emanating from a
person’s inner conscious.
Many people spend their lives in a
constant state of anxiety and have no
idea where it originates.
Others suffer from phobias—greatly
exaggerated, distorted responses to
something perceived as a hazard.
Illusory fears are the bane of their
existence. Illusory fears often stem
directly (and occasionally indirectly)
from an inadequate self-image.
The ego, or sense of self-esteem, may
not be up to coping with the complex
problems of modern living, and the
natural reaction to this is stress
caused by anxiety.
If the self perceives itself as
inadequate to cope, anxiety, always
waiting in the wings, is all too ready
to pounce and take over. An
inadequate sense of self generally, if
not always, stems from childhood
programming by authority figures.
Illusory fears are often based on
misperceptions. Say you open your
door one day to find a snarling dog
ready to leap and bite. You back up
so quickly that you trip over your
own feet and fall down.
But the dog doesn’t jump. You take a
second look and discover that the dog
is a mop you had left on your front
porch the night before.
Because it was not what you expected
to see (the usual clear porch), your
mind did not recognize the mop but
startled you into a self-protective
mode just in case there was danger.
There’s no danger from a bit of dark
wet cotton, but a dog, yes; let’s
see a dog, says the imagination, just
in case we need protection.
And when you see the dog instead of
a mop, all the defensive reactions of
the body spring into place and back
you go.
The misperception was quickly
cleared up. That was easy. Many
misperceptions, however, are buried
deep in the subconscious, and in most
cases they’ve been programmed by
well-meaning parents or other
authority
figures.
Beliefs, attitudes, and the ways we
see things are our perceptive
resources, some of which work to our
advantage and some of which do not.
What we as individuals accept as
truth, (our perception of things),
belong to our overall belief system.
Some of these belief systems can be
quite resistant to change. No one ever
remembers something that happened
in its actuality, but only what
happened as perceived by that
individual.
That perception is affected by mood,
emotion, age, company, environment,
and even the weather. The same
experience that two people may
undergo
will later affect each in a totally
different manner.
Reprogramming illusory fears to
convert them to positive expectations
enhances one’s awareness and self-
esteem.
As the self-esteem improves, one in
turn becomes less and less prone to
react to illusory fears.
Dominating Fear
To dominate your fear, you change
the negative expectation to a positive
expectation.
You do this with your viewpoint, at
Alpha, through meditation.
You do this with that part of your
own mind that rules the world, your
imagination.
Fear is imaginary; courage is
imaginary.
The source of courage is in the
imagination—your image-making
creative ability.
Therein lies the ultimate wellspring
and true source of courage.