Table of Contents
Some back story from the movie After Earth
In order for you to overcome fear, you must understand a beautiful concept,
The simplest and most clear analogy was offered by the movie After Earth.
In the movie After Earth, when Kitai and Cypher are stranded on earth, they face
a very real danger there. Cypher played by Will Smith is injured and stuck inside
the ship they crashed onto the Earth with.
While the responsibility of saving the both of them falls on the shoulders of Kitai,
played by Jaden Smith.
There they are hunted by a futuristic bio-engineered predator specifically designed
to kill humans. The lore says it takes highly trained 8 mercenaries to bring down one
Ursa.
While they are a no problem to kill for Will Smith’s character, Jaden Smith is still a kid
Who has no idea how to deal with it?
There are 2 specific reasons, first and the most surface level reason is, that they are
Insanely strong, second the more philosophical reason is, they track humans by the
smell of fear, obviously yes, some chemicals that are secreted through our pores along
with the sweat.
An Ursa can only track you down or realize your presence if you are in fear. If you are
fearless like the Will Smith’s character Cypher, then they are easy to kill or escape as
they cannot see you.
So if you overcome fear, you can overcome this horrific beast which is hunting you.
So what happens next?
In an intense scene, Jaden Smith is cornered by one of this Ursa’s, Will Smith is in
contact with him through a communication device, their last hope and his only
son is in danger, it could be the end of their journey forever.
Understand the slight nuances carefully placed in the movie, both of the characters
are on the verge of losing everything, in your life when you are scared of something
don’t you have a similar sensation?
You are cornered in life, unable to move, losing all hope, frozen in place and thinking
“Is this the end of everything?”
At that very moment, Will Smith guides him into calming his nerves, becoming still
And asks him to become fully established in the “present.” Along with it he utters
the amazing quote which will help you to overcome your fears.
“Danger is very real but fear is a choice.”
At that instance, the smell of fear is gone, along with it the danger cannot sense Jaden
Smith and walks away without causing any harm. They return back to their home and
live happily ever after. At least until a sequel comes out.
Please don’t be bothered there are no spoilers in this excerpt. It’s a fairly linear movie,
with a predictable plot but it’s a treat to watch and indulge in its After Earth world.
So basically what does this quote tell us about overcoming fear?
- Danger is very real in a lot of situations but it does not mean it deserves a reaction.
- Deliberate training and practice can help you relieve fear.
- Fear is the thought of past or future. Present is very much in place and you have
A certain amount of control over it.
So in order to overcome fear, this is what you must do:
- Challenge yourself in doing things that you usually fear, could be swimming, could
be experiencing heights or speaking in front of others.
just do it, reputation is not as important as your life, you being stuck in a particular
life situation is far worse than a few nonsensical people laughing at you.
Anyone in a proper place in mind will always appreciate someone’s effort to grow.
all those pointing fingers at you are either the naysayers or the discouraging lot.
- Try to establish yourself in the present, it’s one of the most difficult things to do,
yogi’s and ascetics spend their entire life in doing just that, but you can definitely
experience it to a certain degree by doing things like Tratak.
Also, take great support from pranayama, I have linked to a Tratak article above,
and Pranayama article here in the word itself. Give it a read.
In the case of Tratak I prefer concentrating on the flame of a wick lamp. Try practicing
it at twilight, when the night and day meet, breathe calmly and focus your attention
on the flame, a beaming calmness will sweep over you.
- Keep your fear in a logical check. Nothing in this world is as important as being alive.
If you are not going to die by doing something, then, by all means, do it, push yourself,
come on I know you are a strong person deep within, who can do wonders once you
learn to deal with your fear, so push yourself every time.
The moment you are scared, by all means, do what you are scared of.
I am not scared of snakes, but I am not very comfortable around them either, I am
planning on to learn how to catch them, just for the sake of dare. I don’t like being
uncomfortable even a tad bit, I never run after I feel that way, I take it up as a mission
to get rid of it ASAP.
- Fear is mostly of the unknown. An unknown situation, an unknown entity or an uncertain
situation. Educate yourself. Educate yourself about the thing you are scared of and it will go away.
During uncertain situations, educate yourself about it, see what really the circumstances demand
and work accordingly, don’t act on impulse and habit of being scared.
.
Conclusion
My friend you don’t have to be scared and fearful in life, fear never really goes away, it actually
is a survival mechanism, it’s beneficial, it lets you be very alert at the time of danger and make
quick decisions.
However as you have left your mind untrained in that regard, it reacts and acts on instinct instead
of making thoughtful decisions. Every warrior is as much scared as you when they are in the midst
of war but they honed and trained their mind for years and because of which they can make
sound judgments during the battle and complete any mission.
If you want to complete your mission successfully which is life, then you must start training yourself.
you must actively devote time to overcome your fear.
It never goes away but you will learn to use it in your benefit with practice.
Do you have any personal tricks and techniques to practice overcoming fear? Or use some you have
read somewhere already? Let me know about them in the comments, I am keen on reading it.
