So what's wrong with fear? We talk about fear a lot in my 12 step

[raccoon]

groups. But sometimes fear is a good thing.

For instance, if a werewolf is outside your house, wouldn't you be experiencing fear, and be afraid to go outside?

[Tobin S.]

1. Fear becomes a problem if it starts to take over your life

I lived in an almost constant state of fear for a long time due to mental illness and I was miserable.

Fear as a natural response to a real threat might be necessary for survival, and I think that kind of fear is healthy.

[MorningGlow]

2. Fear vs. love

It's not the survival-type fear (which can get you out of sticky situations), but instead the kind of fear that keeps you from functioning and brings you to expect the worst of any situation.

In my spiritual teachings, I've learned that there is only fear or love. Which path will you choose? It's always up to you. Nastiness? Insecurity? Worry-warting? Power-seeking? I've-got-mine-hoarding? All based in fear. And that kind of fear keeps you from realizing your full potential.

It's a difficult thing to do, choosing the path of love (or non-fear, whatever sounds better to you--doesn't make a difference), but it's essential for peace of mind. :hi:

[REP]

9. Donnie Darko was a great movie!

I got a kick out of the 'fear or love' seminar.

[MorningGlow]

15. Never saw it

I learned my stuff way before DD. Guess I'll have to check it out. :hi:

[Dr Morbius]

3. I will not...

I will not live my life, make my decisions or vote on the basis of fear or superstition.

The problem with fear is that it doesn't ever help. If a werewolf is outside my house, common sense tells me not to go outside. I do not need to fear. There's nothing wrong with feeling fear. The problem only comes in when you allow your fear to dictate to you. For example, supposing the house is on fire; now, leaving the house with a werewolf about might result in your death but remaining in the house guarantees your death. Is fear helping you now? Fear is for animals; humans are capable of reason.

Distinguish between fear and concern, between fear and a state of heightened alertness, between fear and rational self-interest. Some things are not fear but are associated with fear; isolating fear and disconnecting fear from those feelings or responses we attribute to the state of fear makes it much easier to deal with and dismiss our fears when they're irrational.

[MiddleFingerMom]

4. Uncle Sam (should) say:

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[Mopar151]

5. Fear is irrational, apprehension is not

If the Werewolf is at the door, how is shitting your pants going to help?

[unpossibles]

6. if a werewolf were outside my door

I'd fear I'd lost my friggin mind.

[Throd]

Fear can keep you mired in a bad situation

Change is often scary.

[Throd]

7. Fear can keep you mired in a bad situation

Change is often scary.

[Redstone]

8. Fear keeps you safe. I was diagnosed with "a pathological lack

of fear" by a psychiatrist. He's right, and it's damn dangerous, almost got me dead more than once - it's as dangerous as those people who can't feel pain.

Nothing's wrong with some healthy fear, as long as you don't go as far as a phobia.

Redstone

[REP]

10. Fear is the mind killer

Wait. BEER is the mind killer. Sorry.

[jobycom]

11. More than one concept covered by that word "fear."

There's the fear that makes you alert to a danger, and even heightens your ability to respond to it. That's healthy. Then there's the fear that cripples you and prevents you from responding to dangers, or even to mild apprehensions. That fear can have its uses--it can keep you from robbing a store for fear of jail, for instance--but it can also keep you from escaping out the back door and into the car to get away while the werewolf breaks in the front window. That's a bad fear. And it can prevent you from applying for a new job, which keeps you from escaping a bad situation, for instance (I say this as I'm at work at 1 in the morning wondering why I'm still here), which further locks you into a depression and an ineffective response system, and that can lead you to whatever dependencies you are fighting. That type of fear makes you dependent on the things which you use to get by, like hiding behind the couch instead of going out the back door, or drinking a fifth instead of facing the demons of one's past or the complacency of one's present.

[RandomThoughts]

12. The fear is not of the wearwolf,

The fear in your comment would be of some harm the werewolf would cause.

So you ask is the effect of going outside worth the risk, even if leading to bodily harm, if so, you go outside.

You make the comment of security versus liberty. And also the comment of being able to risk for a greater cause, assuming going outside would be part of that.

So the fear might help you to think twice, but should not make the decision for you.

[Lucian]

13. If there was a werewolf outside my house...

I'd run outside so it would bite me so I could live a very long life and shift into a wolf. :)

[seabeyond]

14. i think you can accomplish not going outside without fear. it isnt needed

fear is feeling a physical reaction to a past or a future thought. not in the now. it is always a what if.

so what if, ... you didnt experience the physical pain of an illusion. that would be ok too, and could still accomplish, without a physical reaction

sittin in the now, without past, or future, fear cant be

[old mark]

16. Fear can also motivate you to get out of a very bad situation, and RATIONAL

fears should be listened to...just don't get overwhelmed with fear.

mark

[datasuspect]

17. fear is a natural human response

neurosis is the extreme version of it.

the people who obsess about natural human reactions/emotions and who blow them completely out of proportion usually have too much freaking time on their hands.

[EnviroBat]

18. Fear sucks, and it can literally destroy you if you allow it too...

I am still dealing with a situation in which the abrupt ending of a relationship caused me so much fear and anxiety, I couldn't function. I ended up in a hospital after suicide seemed to the only way to get out of the fear and emptiness I was feeling.

What bothers me so much now is how another person was able to have such a profound effect on me. It's almost like I was haunted by this person after she left, and I thought I'd never get free of her. I realize now that it was just due to the shock of sudden change in my life, and having no answers. Nothing to go on. My own insatiable need for logic and reason couldn't be fulfilled, and this led to crippling anxiety.

I am much better now. There is life again, and my soul has returned to my body, (or at least I'm in touch with it again). There is a heart beating where there was an empty pit in the middle of my chest before.

Ironic thing is, rational fear can save your life, irrational fear can end up killing you...

[Bennyboy]

19. I was afraid to open this thread....

some fear are very rational.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

20. like any emotion, it is what you do with it that makes the difference.

my .02

[MajorChode]

21. Fear is a good thing usually

It generally keeps you from doing stupid stuff, but it can definitely be a problem if it prevents you from taking rational actions during times of stress.

[Deep13]

22. Fear is nature's way of saying, "You're about to have a sealed casket funeral."

The key is to recognize when fear is irrational and be able to act inspite of it. Sometimes the fear is based on a real threat, but it is necessary to risk the danger. That's what courage is.

[RadiationTherapy]

23. Fear is the only way to experience courage.

Not that the fearless Redstone lacks courage.

[applegrove]

24. I am naive. At least I used to be. I didn't asses danger properly and that was a very

bad thing. Now I have PTSD. I have fears when there is nothing to fear. And that is bad. I hope that I can learn to be somewhere in the middle. I think I am.