Hello, mi neighbour | Leave fear to its fate

Hello, mi neighbour,

Even though it occurred over five decades ago, its impact on family members still lingers. Johnny never had to kill himself. What a sad waste! But he couldn’t help himself. Really? Fear drove him to do it! Who really has the power to resist the dictates of fear? Johnny feared that his boss would have found out that he stole from him, and to solve the problem and save the embarrassment, he committed suicide!

What if the boss didn’t find out, and even if he found out, wouldn’t he have forgiven Johnny, the honest, hardworking and dedicated worker that he knew up to that fatal moment? I think he would.

So fear drove Johnny to commit a fatal crime against himself, his Creator and his fellowman! Fear! Fear can be such an evil task master at times. If we do not learn to master it, it will master us! Help us to master our fears, dear MASTER.

BAD DECISIONS

Fear is usually triggred by anything that poses a threat to our life, safety, comfort or peace of mind. Whenever triggered, it might cause the individual to do some of the craziest things; make bad decisions which often lead to all forms of ills and illnesses. Fear is behind many of the psychological and physical disorders facing mankind today:

• Aanxiety

• Phobias

• Post-tramatic stress disorder

• Hypertension

• Gastrointestinal problems

• Cardiovascular disease

• Respiratory problems

Fear affects us all, and to date, medical science has not come up with a real treatment for it. Even as I write this article today, there is a little niggling fear that’s telling me that fear, being such a wide topic, unless I invest weeks and weeks of research on it before writing, readers won’t find it helpful. And as you know, my reason for writing this column is to help my fellowmen navigate life. So, I will proceed. It is said that whenever we take on tasks despite our fears, those fears will dissipate. Have you found that to be so? Good. So this seem to be a reasonable fear-management strategy, eeeh?

Researches say that fear is a natural human emotion which can be quite debilitating if left unchecked! They list various types of fears:

• Rational fear: a healthy response to a real threat, such as fear of wild animals and natural disasters, etc.

• Irrational fear: an excessive or unrealistic fear, such as fear of worms or public speaking.

• Spiritual fear: fear that comes from a lack of trust or faith in God.

They categorise the effects of fear thus:

• Paralysing: preventing us from taking action or making decisions.

• Distressing: fear which causes significant emotional distress and anxiety.

• Limiting: fear which hold us back from pursuing our goals and dreams.

How then do we live a meaning and productive life despite the presence of fears and their triggers? Pretending that fear does not exist does not make it exit. We must admit that it is standing in our way, and confront it with some of those tried and proven tools available to us:

* If we seek to replace negative thoughts with positive ones, we are heading into the right direction.

* If we surround ourselves with people who see hope in the midst of despair, we are going somewhere.

* If our faith in God helps us to accept that “all things work together for good to those” whose trust in God is “solid as a rock”, there is no turning back.

* By loving others as much as ourselves, doing unto them the good deeds that we would want them to do unto us, and forgiving them 70x7 each day, while fear may not go away, it will have no impact on our lives, because by now, our actions would have extracted its ‘teeth’.

Go forward in faith, walk by God’s life-management principles and even as you “walk through the valley of the shadow of death I (you) will fear no evil”, and leave fear to its fate. Such a pitty Johnny did not have this information.

Remember, “there is no fear in love; but perfect love drives out fear: fear has torment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.”

Remember also that “overcoming fear takes time, patience, and practice. Be gentle with yourself, and don’t be afraid to seek help when you need it”.

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To help, please call Silton Townsend @ 876 649-9636 or 876 884-3866. Email: helloneighbour@yahoo.com. Visit hellomineighbourja.blogspot.com. Townsend exclusively manages the collections and distributions mentioned in this column and is neither an employee nor agent of The Gleaner.