Human Factors - Fear (1) — YouTube from the CEC Library

Let us talk about fear. My father, who took part in the Second World War, taught me a lot about this. He lived through difficult situations and, when I was a child, I witnessed an episode in which someone acted like a coward. I asked my father why the person had backed down, and he told me: "My son, that is death. The coward dies a hundred times before dying." That phrase stayed with me, because fear is a harmful element in our lives. We live afraid of everything, trying to protect ourselves from suffering that sometimes does not even exist.

Most of our suffering is emotional: we run away from situations, we do not commit, we are not even sincere with ourselves—which is very harmful. A small event based on fear can become something terrible. When something bad happens, we amplify the fact because of our emotional contents, wandering more easily into negative thoughts than into positive ones. This represents an opportunity for self-observation and growth. Fear disorganizes us internally, and a single word is enough for that disorganization to expand. One example is fear of the dark: when we are accompanied, we have a reference point; alone, our imagination creates negative scenarios.

When lying down alone in the dark, with no one at home, after watching horror films, our mind makes negative associations, leading to disorganization and even to panic. Our life is dominated by fears, which are the father and the mother of all the pathologies we have. We cannot live in the present, because we are always where fear is, not where we should be: conscious and focused. During a conversation, our inner dialogue distracts us, preventing a clean exchange. We want to hear only what confirms our beliefs. If someone talks about violence, we listen attentively—but that does not bring us happiness. Fear is not the best path for growing and evolving. We should expand positive thoughts: positivity is a way to reorganize ourselves, a coin of light that we add each day and that improves our relationships with ourselves and with others.