In a world where we are increasingly under the spotlight, it’s easy to feel the pressure of things going wrong, whether it be work, relationships or lifestyle choices. Years of social programming has taught us to hide such experiences to uphold a sort of illusive standard of behaviour, more favourably needing to be understood and perhaps more comfortably accepted through the eyes of an observer. Glossing over negatively associated emotions such as shame, guilt or loss. Which all of course, derive from the ultimate barrier… Fear.
Human beings however, are not born with such social fears. Children are often described as ‘fearless’ or ‘knowing no bounds’ as they learn. This of course is equal to their level of consequence and we all undergo those lessons that provide us with a sense of physical understanding and personal safety.
But at what point, does the balance of an individual’s perception of fear, shift from preserving personal safety to inhibiting personal progression? And do we then limit our life experience with an unnecessarily altered calculation of fear based on this learned protective pattern? As humans we tend not to reflect on negative experiences in a positive way. But in doing so, could we not then break that pattern of fear?
The emotion of fear of course, relies on recalling a memory and so, if every negative outcome became a valuable lesson, every broken heart became a stronger heart and soul, every failed business became a deeper understanding of the system, then we would be using the experience as a tool, rather than using fear as a protective barrier.
Afterall, the experience that originally caused the emotion, no longer exists unless we choose to recall it in our mind, in the present moment. Therefore, how we choose to recall it, becomes the fork in the road that defines our future.
“The only thing we have to fear, is fear itself”. Franklin D Roosevelt.
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