Is the voice of Fear keeping us shackled? Can we be liberated?

A lot of 'learned' people talk about things that make you confident, that help you take the bull by its horns, conquer the world, tips to becoming influential, becoming popular, likeable, but rarely do we talk about the part fear plays in the whole business of conquering, moving ahead and how do we eliminate the fear factor? 

Fear by definition, means, "a distressing emotion aroused by impending danger, evil, pain, etc.,whether the threat is real or imagined; the feeling or condition of being afraid." [Dictionary.com]

Fear in real life, means, a warning, alarming, voice inside us, constantly informing us that the next step forward indicates danger, mistake, failure. The voice speaking inside is sometimes, so loud, powerful, clear, evidential (can refer to past mistakes), that 9 out of 10 times, we are sure, what it is telling us is correct.

For example, if I am standing by the swimming pool, ready to dive in, the voice inside me tells me, the moment my face hits the water, the water is going to suck me in, drowning me, killing me, as if, the water is a living person, ready to attack me. The voice is so strong and the idea so scary, that I enter the pool by the stairs, and start backstroking my way end to end. The voice of Fear was so strong, that all my inspirational reading, my confidence, my words of wisdom that I sometimes distribute so generously, all went drowning in the swimming pool. 

Now, the swimming pool example can sound really petty compared to the challenges we are facing in our daily lives. But the baseline remains the same. There is some voice inside us preventing us from becoming what we truly want to become, what we truly want to achieve, what our truest highest potential is. We also have to understand that not everyone can become Steve Jobs, but I myself can become "Chetna Ingle" or you can become [Your Name].

Why is this voice inside so powerful? Why does it always convince us that it knows the truth of the matter more than us? Are we imprisoned by this voice that prevents us from becoming the best version of us? 

These are the questions we need to ask ourselves. YES, I meant it when I said "Ask yourself"

The concept of talking to yourself might seem foreign to some. We are usually expected to talk to someone on the phone, in person, to a face, via email, via video etc. But the truth is we are constantly talking to ourself, almost all the time. We just haven't had the inclination to notice. 

Lets say, you are in a meeting. There are six other people in the room. Someone is presenting a thoroughly prepared presentation. Your mind is 40% in the concept of the meeting (you say to yourself, "does this concept really make sense, Gerry could have added a few more stats to make it more convincing"), 20% on your pending task list (you say to yourself "I need to go back and work on those figures before my 3 pm meeting"), 20% at home, family, spouse (You say to yourself, "Did I turn off the gas stove, shut the windows before I left, put the milk back into the refrigerator, I hope the kids are OK in school, I hope they ate their lunch, I need to get out in time to pick up the kids, I wish I hadn't been so mean to Rakesh this morning") and 20% on ourselves (you say to yourself, "What if I start writing, need to learn how to make that green lamb curry one day, I am so exhausted, I am so bored, when am I ever going do anything worthwhile, change lives, make a difference, don't want to end up a failure .....").

This is the internal dialogue that we keep having with ourselves almost all the time, but we are so consumed with the outside world, that we stop listening to ourselves EXCEPT for the part where the ever so powerful, fearful self talks to us and tells us not to take that next step leading to promotion, elevation, progression, growth and self realization. 

Day in and day out, we live based on a task list, ignoring another voice inside us, constantly requesting you to take that pottery class, go to that musical, start that dream project or just plainly, tell them you love them. Another part of you brushes off those thoughts by saying, who has the time, gotta finish this project on time, may be some other time, and He didnt do the dishes, why should I tell him, I love him! :)

Notice the dialogue internally. Watch yourself at a time, when you make the stupidest mistakes. The voice inside is the MEANEST at that time. It says "WT#, how could you not see something so silly before, you could have corrected this mistake before it happened, the boss is going to think you don't know $&#^ BLAH BLAH BLAH". In real world, no one is thinking about you or criticising you more than you, yourself. 

Becoming aware of this dialogue (not even trying to correct it yet) could be the first step towards unshackling ourselves from the bondage of Fear. Yes, I said bondage, because when we are acting as per someone else's wish (it could be your own restricting self), we become bonded. 

And we were Born Free!