Fear is something that I have noticed in many of the people who approach me for yoga therapy and counselling. It may be an unarticulated fear. People often don’t even realise that they have all these fears, but are nevertheless inhibited and limited by them. It may be the fear of change, of the unknown, of taking a chance, of failure, and strangely, even the fear of success. We let these fears hold us back, restrict and imprison us. There may be possibilities that remain out of reach just because of these fears. To overcome fear, having faith is important. Let’s delve deeper into the concept of Fear vs. Faith.
Fear vs. Faith
Where there is fear there cannot be faith, where there is faith there cannot be fear. This is important to remember. Anxiety and fear are really common in our society for various reasons. However it is not so easy to let go of fear and develop faith. For instance, we think doing Shavasan would be easy and require no effort, but it is actually very difficult to do! So, what I suggest is, rather than trying to control your fear, work on increasing your faith.
When things go as desired we develop faith. However, we cannot seem to get rid of the doubt – there are remnants of fear even when faith levels increase. So, what is required is to try to increase faith, whatever the result may be. We have to pursue that purpose to the best of our ability, without fearing what the outcome is going to be. The end result will be what it will be. Don’t focus on that. Instead, focus on doing whatever you are doing and do it with full faith. It is not your job to wonder and worry whether the outcome is going to be good, bad or ugly. You have to have faith that whatever the outcome is going to be is going to be in your favour.
Change your mindset to overcome fear
You must look to develop this attitude – that the outcome or consequence doesn’t matter to you. Work to create the mindset that you are confident that the outcome will be in your favour no matter what. That is when you will have developed faith; that is when your faith will have triumphed over your fear! Now you know that you are driven more by faith and less by fear. On the other hand if you’re trying to control the consequences, then you are not acting out of faith. That would mean that you don’t have faith in the process.
Who decides whether the consequences of a process are good or bad? This is just perception. There is no right or wrong here; it is only your perception that makes it so. Allow the faith, allow the consequence to decide whether something is in your favour or not. In fact, take it a step further – try to see how every consequence can be positive. It is a cliché to say that every cloud has a silver lining, but like every cliché, it is true! There are some positives hidden even in something that on the face of it appears to be negative.
So I think you realise now, how you can overcome your fears and replace them with faith. When you believe that the outcome of any process or occurrence is going to be positive no matter what, your fear disappears. And now, the consequences no longer scare you, because you have replaced fear with faith! And as I said, fear cannot exist where there is faith. When you relinquish that fear, you can then reach for newer possibilities in life. You can think about that new job or relationship, maybe even the business venture that you didn’t want to consider because the possible consequences scared you. Without fear, the possibilities increase exponentially!
Let the light of Faith brighten your life, and banish the darkness of Fear.
Happy Diwali!