Thursday, February 20, 2014

Are you assailed by imaginary fears?

We are always troubled by fear of unknown happening and unable to cut ourselves out of it. It is not always fear about us or about failure of our actions. Our fear concerns those whom we hold dear and love. We are concerned about our parents, spouse, children, close friends, relatives and their health, well-being and happiness. We imagine all the worst fears we see around elsewhere happening to our near and dear. It is not a rational anxiety backed by realistic risks.
A rational fear is a sign of maturity and its awareness tends to keep the risks away. It is an essential part of living sounding us warning at the appropriate times. We do not leave open lamps when we leave the house, we ensure that doors are properly secured, we turn off the taps, and we walk on the platforms and adhere to signals when crossing the road. We are guided in these by fear of accidents or loss.
But unfounded irrational fears are more afflictions of the mind and have no basis. They spoil the present. We pass through much pain by the imaginary fears that have never come true and may not also. There can be unexpected hardships in life. Except for the normal precautions that we take, we must get along with life and be prepared to face the troubles as and when they come
There is this well known story of a slave travelling in a ship who was caught by the fear of the rough sea and started wailing much to the annoyance of other passengers. No amount of convincing him that the ship was safe and it ran absolutely no risk of getting sunk could make him calm down. When his screaming and crying became unbearable, the captain asked that he be thrown out into the sea. The poor chap was lifted bodily and thrown. The sea was rough, the wind harsh and the sun was setting. As he struggled gulping the salty water and was almost drowning, the slave looked up and pitiably pleaded to be rescued. The captain ordered that he be brought back. Once in the ship, he turned unusually quiet and was seen enjoying the blue sky and the stars during the rest of the journey. Exposed to real scare, his irrational fear vanished.
No man’s life is free from problems.”Into each life some rain must fall—but why open your umbrella while the sun is shining?” Faith in God can help overcome this fear of the unexpected.

10 comments:

  1. Yes, faith is the best healer/moral booster always. We just forget to be fearful about anything because we believe that he will take care of all the problems and we can live and enjoy our lives.

    The story is very nice, Partha Sir!

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  2. yes..irrational fears make life miserable..whatevr is to happen will happen, why waste time worrying about that...

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  3. Great story! Total surrender removed all my fears, I am fearless now, but coming to that point involved lots of unwanted fears that dont make sense now when I think about the past!

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  4. That is a unique way to teach lessons of life. :D
    Great topic.

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  5. This article reminds me of my friend's father. He used to say why unnecessarily worrying so much, if that trouble won't come the amount of time and energy would be wasted for nothing.

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  6. Looks like my comment has vanished, maybe it has gone to the spam folder.

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  7. No.
    I had written how I was guilty of the harboring such fears, especially with friends and close relatives living abroad. Mainly I get influenced by seeing American movies where they show psychos, thieves, murderers roaming round the street, or looking like normal people and doing things in the most unexpected manner. And of course the random police chase of criminals, where the innocents might get hurt.
    I know it is very silly as my son says, but sometimes i just get paranoid. Movies always exaggerate things to keep us pinned to our seats, it doesn't mean that they really happen all the time.
    My son says, that people in the west too think of India in a different way, because of what they see/ hear in news, but we who live here know that such things do not happen everyday, it is just random events reported by the media, although many of them are true, but not an everyday happening.
    Safety of loved ones always creates a fear in our minds, however much we try to rationalise them.

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  8. We all need to go through such ‘sea’ experiences in our lives at least once to really live our lives…

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  9. Many people harbor such irrational fears and spoil not only their lives but those of others with them too. But I need an umbrella when the Sun is shining too, so that I dont get carried away by the brightness!

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  10. your posts are very inspiring.. some of them makes me resume my long left blogging

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