How to Thrive in a World Addicted to Fear. Author Joe Bailey
Hello, everybody. This is Joe Bailey, I know what’s on your mind. It’s what’s on all of our minds at this point. And that’s the Covid-19 virus.
There’s a concurrent virus that’s happening. And that’s the virus of fear.
I’m not immune to fear, even though I wrote a book called “Fear proof your life” in 2008. I speak on this topic, and I teach this to my clients every day, how their mind works. None of us are completely immune from catching the fear virus.
But understanding where experience is coming from and how our thought is creating it will help strengthen our psychological immune system.
Fearproof Your Life:
How to Thrive in a World Addicted to Fear
“Fearproof Your Life” guides us through a process of how discovering who we truly are immunizes us from our own fears, as well as those of others. We learn a process of knowing, listening to, and honoring our own unique True Self, of being willing to listen to our truth and act from it, without seeking approval, of being willing to forgive ourselves and others and take responsibility for what we create.
How can we boost our psychological immune system so this challenging time can be a time of transformation.
Fear is a natural thing built into us human beings to survive. Unfortunately, because we have the power to think and to create thoughts that aren’t true. We also have the ability to use the acronym of F.E.A.R. “False Evidence Appearing Real.
I know, I grew up in a fear addicted family, my mother had a PhD in fear.
My mother was the most loving, sweetest little woman you ever met. And so I thought worry was a form of love. That worry was love, and they innocently passed that on. I think that’s probably why I became a psychologist, because I wanted to get over this fear. I wanted to find a way to deal with it. So, fear is a natural, inborn thing to us. But it’s something that we when we misuse our minds. We spread fear to not just what is true, but to what is an illusion, something that isn’t true. And that’s when fear is dangerous.
When we get too afraid, we get immobilized, and we don’t see the possibilities, we become more reactive, instead of being responsive.
When we’re calm, we tend to be more reflective, have a broader perspective of the circumstances, and perform what the Buddhists call “right action.”
We’re actually less safe when we’re fearful.
It actually lowers our immune system. Overproduction of cortisol and adrenaline in our brain depletes us of the necessary chemicals our bodies use to strengthen the immune system. So all the fear mongering actually makes us more susceptible to the virus, go figure.
Fear is that alarm clock that wakes us up. We don’t carry the alarm clock with us all day ringing to stay awake.
Insights can come to our mind when we make room for them, but, when there’s fear, we have no room for them. We’re always living in the feeling of our own thinking. We’re like a thought chamber, and every perception we have, every emotion we have, though, it may look like it’s coming from whatever you’re feeling threatened by, your experience is always being brought to you by your thinking. When you wake up to that fact, it does something for you. It clears your mind. it resets the computer. It reboots your system, back to the state where you can receive new information, insight, and creative thought.
I want to leave you with a message I received from a friend and I couldn’t have put it better.
A message sent from a friend:
*What is the Corona/ Covid-19 Virus Really Teaching us?”
I’m a strong believer that there is a spiritual purpose behind everything that happens, whether that is what we perceive as being good or being bad. As I meditate upon this, I want to share with you what I feel the Corona/ Covid-19 virus is really doing to us:
- It is reminding us that we are all equal, regardless of our culture, religion, occupation, financial situation or how famous we are. This disease treats us all equally, perhaps we should to. If you don’t believe me, just ask Tom Hanks.
- It is reminding us that we are all connected and something that affects one person has an effect on another. It is reminding us that the false borders that we have put up have little value as this virus does not need a passport. It is reminding us, by oppressing us for a short time, of those in this world whose whole life is spent in oppression.
- It is reminding us of how precious our health is and how we have moved to neglect it through eating nutrient poor manufactured food and drinking water that is contaminated with chemicals upon chemicals. If we don’t look after our health, we will, of course, get sick.
- It is reminding us of the shortness of life and of what is most important for us to do, which is to help each other, especially those who are old or sick. Our purpose is not to buy toilet roll.
- It is reminding us of how materialistic our society has become and how, when in times of difficulty, we remember that it’s the essentials that we need (food, water, medicine)as opposed to the luxuries that we sometimes unnecessarily give value to.
- It is reminding us of how important our family and home life is and how much we have neglected this. It is forcing us back into our houses so we can rebuild them into our home and to strengthen our family unit.
- It is reminding us that our true work is not our job, that is what we do, not what we were created to do. Our true work is to look after each other, to protect each other and to be of benefit to one another.
- It is reminding us to keep our egos in check. It is reminding us that no matter how great we think we are or how great others think we are, a virus can bring our world to a standstill.
- It is reminding us that the power of freewill is in our hands. We can choose to cooperate and help each other, to share, to give, to help and to support each other or we can choose to be selfish, to hoard, to look after only our self. Indeed, it is difficulties that bring out our true colors.
- It is reminding us that we can be patient, or we can panic. We can either understand that this type of situation has happened many times before in history and will pass, or we can panic and see it as the end of the world and, consequently, cause ourselves more harm than good.
- It is reminding us that this can either be an end or a new beginning. This can be a time of reflection and understanding, where we learn from our mistakes, or it can be the start of a cycle which will continue until we finally learn the lesson we are meant to.
- It is reminding us that this Earth is sick. It is reminding us that we need to look at the rate of deforestation just as urgently as we look at the speed at which toilet rolls are disappearing off of shelves. We are sick because our home is sick.
- It is reminding us that after every difficulty, there is always ease. Life is cyclical, and this is just a phase in this great cycle. We do not need to panic; this too shall pass.
- Whereas many see the Corona/ Covid-19 virus as a great disaster, I prefer to see it as a *great corrector*
It is sent to remind us of the important lessons that we seem to have forgotten and it is up to us if we will learn them or not.
