According to Psychology Today: “Fear is a neurophysiological response to a perceived threat. Fear activates our fight-or-flight response by stimulating the hypothalamus, which directs the sympathetic nervous system and the adrenal-cortical system to prepare our bodies for danger. This can happen suddenly with a surge of stress hormones into our bloodstream, or we can experience a slow drip of anxiety that creeps up on us as dread. We inherited this ‘survival circuitry’ from our hunter-gatherer ancestors. Those who developed it were better able to survive having to wrestle a tiger or run from a pack of wolves. During an encounter with fear, blood is shunted from our limbs so it’s more available to our hearts. Our breathing and heart rates accelerate; we sweat or shiver; our stomach ‘drops’ and our vision narrows as our bodies prepare to flee or freeze. As much as we might sometimes like to eradicate this disabling feeling from our lives, fear is part of our survival kit.”
Today we are not dealing with this type of fear on a daily basis, unless we live in a war zone or a very crime-ridden neighborhood. Instead, many people are hesitant to do anything outside their comfort zone, fearing the “what ifs” that plague their thoughts. We might adoringly watch people take a risk and soar to amazing heights, but it is not always easy to take that step ourselves.
Sadhguru answers a question about handling the fact that, in life, we don’t know what’s next, and he explains how that’s not something to regret or fear.
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