Fear

FEAR

"There is nothing to fear but fear itself" - Franklin Roosevelt.

It's a pretty clichéd topic - FEAR. Any strong, unreasonable dislike to certain things is known as Fear. But this is not the only definition. Fear is an emotion expression & thus it is different in different situations. Fear is usually of the unknown, we are afraid of things we don't know or understand. The most common illustration is of fear of darkness, animals (especially reptiles). In a survey it was found that 92% people in the world are afraid of reptiles; that too a resident lizard. 

If I may say that children are not afraid of anything, than I may not be completely wrong. They don't understand anything hence they don't know what to be afraid of. Their world is untouched by the monster called Fear. The only thing's children fear are waking up alone, filthy make-up & darkness. Whereas an adolescent is afraid of studies & the changes taking place in them. Most students are afraid of a particular subject; the progress card, of course. The adults on the other hand are afraid of losing their earthly-haven. Some elders are also afraid of the things they did in their past. 

Fear is an abstract form of emotion. It can't be shown nor can it be veiled. We fear what we love the most, its the fear of losing it. But the other aspect of fear is that it always questions our faith. We're trembled from within as we expected things to go other way. Fear & panic are inter-related. Any last moment change in plans results into fear. It is as Heath Ledger quoted in 'The Dark Knight', "Nobody panics when things go according to the plan, even if the plan is horrifying, because its all part of a plan". 

The most debated type of fear is fear of ghosts. When Haley Joel Osment said in 'The Sixth Sense' said, "I see dead people", it made it to the top of the Decade's most influential lines. We're in fact not ready to accept the change so dramatical that a person can be back from the dead or when thing's don't work out as we 'imagined'. When a little girl was thought to be possessed by 'Pazuzu' i.e the devil himself in 'The Exorcist', the whole world was taken-aback for they never imagined anything like this. The world took grieve interest in it & on the other hand WB & William Friedkin filled their pockets. 

Youth is afraid of loneliness, basically. They don't want to be left behind. Especially those who're in a relationship, they always fear losing their 'sacred-bond'. We don't want to let go of things which is why we fear them the most. A loser has nothing else to lose hence he fears nothing, whereas winner has everything at stake. The fear is of losing something precious & unique which forces us to be trembled. Adult's fear their family, employment & old-age, which're logical till one point.

Overcoming fear is like climbing uphill. But it's not impossible. Religious people have proved to be quiet handy when it comes to fear, they've their respective 'God' to help them while the atheist have nothing but their sheer logical & statistical brilliance or will-power, as some might call it. A religious person has a sense of 'security' but sometimes is carried away by it. An atheist has nothing like it, he believes in what he sees. As I said earlier, it mingles with our faith & belief's. Everything that seemed sacred & pure may seem savage when possessed by fear. Once we establish a balance between what we have & what we should do i.e satisfaction & salvation, we should be able to live happily ever after.

"We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark. The real tragedy is when men are afraid of the light."

Think about this line & you'll have an epiphany of what you fear the most.

Human Mind: Behavior

HUMAN MIND: BEHAVIOR

Human body has been the one of the most complicated & researched topic in the history of Science, but if we dig deep then we come to know about the power that guides the body through its journey - BRAIN. Though human's have set their feet on the moon, they don't have any answer for the working of Brain. Human brain is considered to be a 'Pandora's Box' which is yet to be opened. The way the brain functions is still a mystery. Often the questions associated with Brain are: Why? How? Both these questions lead to the working of the ultimate mastermind. Psychology promises to unveil the working of the brain but there're more questions than answers. Let's take this topic in detail.

[1] A person cannot remain quite when he sees another person from the same profession doing the same thing wrongly. He'll speak out eventually, if not immediately. [2] People find it extremely difficult to control their emotions such as - Anger, Fear, Sorrow, Love etc. [3] The body cannot perform 2 physical actions simultaneously. These sentences are asking out loud the same question - WHY? All these action's are associated with the control one has over his/her mind. In most people, the mind controls their actions leading to activities mentioned above. So, How to gain control over mind? - It has been answered a million times that meditation leads to a healthy development of the brain. A person is actually in his un-conscious state at the time of meditation which prevents him to worry about the worldly materialistic things. The state of mind when  a person begins to feel himself - that is being devoid of any worldly deeds or things is considered to be 'Peace', which is achieved via meditation. Meditation ain't an abstruse or esoteric action which only a diviner can achieve. Any person can achieve that state of mind. For beginners, take out few minutes of your hectic schedule to devote to yourself. Now dim the lights and take a candle if possible, light the candle & start staring at it's flame for sometime. Now as you're looking at it, innumerable thoughts will begin to pop in your head but no need to panic, let them pop out. Try not to think about the thoughts & at one point you'll run out of ideas & only at that time will you actually concentrate on the flame. Here the key is patience and we're actually overpowering the brain. Play a soothing, soft, slow music (preferably classical) in the background at the minimum dB. Of course, practice makes it perfect.

Secondly, a person's character is defined by the way his brain functions. However I disagree to this method of measuring the magnitude of another person's ability. Often a person is not how we see him as, he is  how we want him to see. This might seem a little tricky but its not. Our perception is always colored by what we hope, what we want & obviously what we love. All these factor's veil us from the truth. The most innocent person is a child - NO. He seems innocent only because he can't understand things, once he begins to understand who knows we may see another Hitler, Obama, Bill Gates, Laden etc. When a person begins to understand everything, he's no longer a child. So what are the tools to measure people's nature or way of thinking? The bitter truth is - there is no such 'tool' which can measure a person's ability to do various things. And the real character of a person is what he is under pressure, not what he wants to be. We create an image of ourselves deep down in our minds thinking that the world would observe us through the similar perspective but that's not the way it works & when somebody demolishes our so-called 'image', it is a crucifying feeling. But the quicker we wake up, the better are the chances of us living our lives peacefully.

The third most common problem with us is closely-related to the above mentioned dilemma. We're too judgmental about those around us. There's an old example: Whenever a person is wearing a white or any other bright colored cloth, people always search for the darker spots in it which results in hiding the positive aspects of that cloth - it is a typical psychology. Rather than appreciating the work, we're always too critique of others than ourselves. [1] If Roger Federer doesn't play very well for some games or if Ronaldo doesn't score well, they're considered to be 'retired' by some of the pseudo-critics. [2] If a person isn't paying attention to you for once doesn't questions his loyalty. [3] If a person observes another person doing something wrong, he immediately tags the other of being 'un-fit' or 'retarded'. But why such attitude? It is the hubris, the arrogance, the temperament, the superiority complex that is responsible for such an attitude. But people simply scratch these things by saying - 'Human Nature'. Had we taken our keen observation powers, harsh verbal quotations & imposed restrictions in consideration of our own introspection, we'd have been a much much better beings than what we're at the moment. The youth calls it - 'Attitude'. The 'I'm always right' - attitude is very common these days. We're always liberal on ourselves. If emotions separates us from being animals, the same emotions lead us to become an animal, only more worse.

People change their attitude towards other's much before than the clock changes its hands. We're like chameleons - waiting for a perfect color to get absorbed into. We're someone for someone & someone else for others. This is known as 'Double Standard' & I'm not virgin of it too. We play different roles altogether in our lives. We play - a son/daughter, sister/brother, friend/family, student/teacher, friends/partner etc. A person is never known by only one other person, everyone know's that person in the form of various fragments which when united can help & encourage that person for good. It is not a bad thing to be of 'Double Standards' but the key point is we shouldn't ditch or deceive anyone else, much less than us. We hide different things from different people because we 'analyzed' that it ain't apt. 

Some people are very reserved - introvert while extroverts are in total contrast. Most introverts do not like to be too social, they like staying at home or enjoy quieter, peaceful places. Whereas extroverts like to party like an animal, they're very open about themselves. No one is a born introvert or extrovert, it is a choice been made by the individual. All our lives we have a choice to make in some or the other matter. All of them are the tougher than the earliest. 

Finally I'd like to conclude this topic by a piece of advice - 'When we're awake is the only time we realize that we were asleep'. Take note of this great quote by someone who might have had an epiphany at an earlier point in his life. The sooner we wake up, the better chances we have to fulfill the dreams we dream't. So keep meditating & happy behaving around others.