Worry, Fear, Anxiety & the Human Mind

The unfortunate truth is, our mind has not evolved to keep us Happy but has evolved to keep us “Safe”. Many times worrying & fear act as a good motivator, but an overdose of that is definitely not a great experience. It drains our energy, leaving us to feel helpless & frustrated. In this article, we are going to understand one of the major reasons as to why this happens.  

According to  Dr. Russ Harris who is a world-renowned Therapist & author of the international best-selling book ‘The Happiness Trap’, the answer to this question lies in human evolution. 

Around 2,00,000 years ago Homosapiens appeared on earth and that was roughly the time when we developed our ability to think. During the primitive times, life was very difficult and these homo sapiens were living in extreme adversity, which was full of wild animals, attacks from other groups, and natural disasters. 

Hence to be able to survive through unpredictable events, the Homosapien mind had to be always on a lookout for what could cause hurt or harm.

“Safety First”-  was the default setting of the mind. 

Let's assume there was movement behind the bush, the safety-focused mind would alert the caveman and ask him to avoid going there as it could be a wild animal hiding there. The caveman & cavewomen who weren't so good spotting danger did not live much, but the ones whose mind was good at anticipating danger continued to survive.

We have evolved from the ones who were very good at anticipating danger and being prepared for the worst. 

Keeping us safe still remains the primary job of our minds and brains, even though we are in a much much safer environment, the habit of being super vigilant still continues. Constant worrying & thinking about negative possible scenarios is what our minds have evolved to and not happiness. 

These days we don't have the wolves and the bears that we have to be worried about but negative possibilities of losing the job, embarrassing ourselves in public, falling ill, etc, is what our mind keeps throwing at us.  

So to conclude, we should know that, it's the nature of the mind to be anxious and worry about possible negative events. Hence we should entertain those thoughts only till the time they enable us to be well prepared, post which we shouldn't take them too seriously. 

So the next time your mind tells you about that most unlikely negative possibility, remember it's your great great great grandfather/mother talking to you!  

Learn More Here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kv6HkipQcfA&t=