Fear is an emotion that we are all accustomed to. In fact it is so common that fear can be divided into the 6 basic fears that every human has felt at least once.

But why does fear exist? Which are the 6 basic fears? And the most important question: are you ready to discover the key to overcome yours?

Let´s begin…

Why does fear exist?

So, where does fear come from? Why does it exist?

Well, you should know that since the moment humans have existed on earth, our brains have had 2 very important and specific tasks to take care of. The first one is to ensure our survival and the second one is to continue the existence of our race. If you study carefully the actions that we do in today’s world you will find that it all comes down to ensuring that these two objectives are accomplished.

Let’s dive deeper into the first objective. Our brain is configurated since our birth to protect us and to look out in every situation for things that could put in danger our lives.

This means that our brain is basically a scanner that filters the world around us looking for things that could endanger our survival.

This is also the reason why we are more prominent to focus on the negative side of things, rather than the positive one.

Our bodies have two mechanisms for survival- growth or protection. When our brain finds something unknown or dangerous, it goes into a state of alert and activates the state of protection, fear.

When the protection mechanism activates all of our energy and attention are focused on fleeing from what we fear.

The 6 basic fears

We all have and feel 6 basic fears. Variations can arise from them, but it all comes down to these six ones. Let´s discover which they are, what causes them and how can we overcome them:

Fear of our death and that of our loved ones.

This is one of the most primitive fears that exist. Since we are aware of the meaning of death, most of us feel dread and fear of that event that we will all live in, but no one knows anything about it. In fact, if we are assured of anything in life, it is death, the end of our existence as we know it. But what if death meant something else?

As we learned in the article The 7 Universal Laws of the Universe- part 2, we live in a world of dualities: happiness-sadness, up-down, dirty-clean, life-death.

What if death were nothing more than a change of state, instead of the end of our existence?

Let me explain it to you with a metaphor. We have all learned in school the change that worms undergo. There comes a moment when they think they are dead and begin to see themselves wrapped in a layer that covers their entire body. Everything becomes dark, the worm disappears.

But what is really happening is that the worm is transforming into something else, into a butterfly. Just when the worm thought it had reached its end, it emerges from its cocoon as a butterfly. And it flies away, free, even more, beautiful than it was before.

For the worms, this change of state can mean death, because they are at a lower level of consciousness. We see it differently because we have a higher state of consciousness and we understand what happens to the worm.

Human beings also have their level of consciousness. From this level of consciousness, this change of state can look like death, it is difficult to realize what death means from an earthly plane. But what if death were nothing more than a change of state, instead of the end of our existence?

Fear of losing money.

In the past, nature was governed by the law of the strongest. Many years ago the world in which we live has changed, the biggest change being the introduction of money. Nowadays it is no longer the strongest who survives, but the one who has more economic resources.

We live in a consumerist society, where our worth and status are measured by the number of things we have. Having less means BEING less. This is why we have this fear so deeply rooted within us. Because in today’s world having less means having fewer chances to survive.

To eliminate this fear, it is helpful to understand where it comes from and how it is created. This is a fear ingrained by the news, the newspapers, the television networks.

Our brain loves dramas, the greater the number and the more dramatic the better. We don’t stop to watch a procession, but we are incredibly tempted to stop in the middle of the street to watch an accident or a fight. We don’t watch TV because we want to see something beautiful and positive, we want to see something that touches us, that provokes emotion. The TV and news networks know this, so they take advantage of it by including in them things that feed our fears in the worst possible way.

Fear of old age

The fear of old age comes from two sources. The first is because the older we get the closer we get to death – the first fear we talked about. The second is because old age is associated with the possibility of being poor. Remember the fear of losing money?

This fear is fueled by our beliefs and conditioning. For example, we all have an ingrained belief that the older we get the more likely we are to be sick and in poor health – a fear we will talk about soon. Another cause that feeds this fear is the changes that occur to our body, especially physically. Old age is linked to the image of an old person, with wrinkled skin, droopy eyes, spots on the skin… This cause has such an effect on us because no human being likes the idea of no longer being attractive.

Another cause that feeds the fear of aging is the possibility of losing our freedom and independence.

All these fears and thoughts paralyze us throughout our lives because we are afraid of wasting our time. We take much longer to make a decision because we want to do the right thing, we want to meditate on our options because we are afraid of making the wrong choice. But let me tell you a secret: successful people are those who make decisions quickly and don’t change them, instead of people who make decisions slowly but are constantly changing them.

Fear of failure

How many things have you stopped doing out of fear of failure?

This fear is the biggest dream breaker that exists. We let this fear get inside us and contaminate everything: our dreams, hopes, the idea of success. We ruin our potential by letting the fear of failure make us question twice what we are doing. We let life’s opportunities pass us by because we believe that the fall if we don’t succeed, will be painful.

But you can’t expect to win if you don’t play the game. You won’t lose, but you won’t have a chance to win either. You will stand still, immobile, which is even worse than losing. As Napoleon Hill said: “every failure comes disguised as a blessing”. Every failure brings with it the seed, the possibility of success. But to profit from it you have to learn to benefit from failure and learn from it.

Fear of Criticism and Rejection

I want to share with you a rule about criticism and rejection. It’s called the 18/40/60 rule, and it says:

At 18, you care about what others think of you.

At 40, you don’t care what others think of you.

At 60, you realize that no one has ever thought about you.

-Daniel Amen.

People are more concerned about their problems and fears than they are about what happens to you. There is nothing you can do that will make everyone happy, it is impossible to please everyone. Besides, people who want to criticize you will always find a way to do so, no matter what you do. So relax and DO WHAT YOU HAVE AND WANT TO DO.

One more thing, the kind of people who criticize others are also the kind of people who lead unhappy lives. Successful people, happy people do not criticize the actions of others because they are focused on their dreams and aspirations, just like you.

Anyone can criticize you but never let the opinion of others define who you are.

Fear of disease and ill-health

As we have seen before, the fear of ill health, old age, and death are connected, each feeding the other, creating a vicious circle.

We feel the fear of sickness and ill health because they bring us to the edge of death, an abyss of which we know nothing except disturbing stories and which is “the end of our existence” as we know it.

This fear, like the fear of losing money, is instilled and exploited by the pharmaceutical chains. How? Basically with the Principle of Mentalism.

One of the characteristics of the commercials we see on TV for these brands, includes very explicit and real images that take you to emotion almost immediately, recording in your subconscious.

After seeing that ad you start thinking about the disease, you talk about it with the people around you, you decree it and you end up manifesting it in your life without realizing it.

Don’t you believe me? There are numerous studies made by doctors where about 60% of the people who go to the doctor suffer from hypochondria (imaginary illnesses).

The symptoms and the disease are real, but the cause of the disease is not, it is only a result of your mind.

How to overcome fear?

The million-dollar question: how can we overcome fear? What do we have to do to stop this emotion from paralyzing our life and destroying our fears?

Well, I think I found the answer to that question. Do you want to know it?

Fear does not exist. What we are most afraid of is not real. Why?

As we previously saw, fear is the anticipation of pain. We feel fear because we believe that something will be painful for us. But it doesn’t exist, because tomorrow doesn’t exist, it is something that exists in our mind, but no one is assured of tomorrow. Therefore fear does not exist, it is something that is in our minds.