My impression is that most people, once asked, assume that fear has its origin in external factors. They refer to the deep black of the night they are afraid of, to potential diseases that could afflict them, to the fear of death, which although so inevitable is best tabooed, and so much more. 

What if the fear as described above, however, does not originate in the outside, but in our mind? If fear ultimately finds itself in our aggressive thoughts, in our resentment and our complaining. And yes, we all have those moments at least now and then – that’s human. 

I love to exchange ideas with people. Best bilaterally, because conversations are then allowed to go deeper, intimacy emerges. And best are conversations during an activity, like making sports, embarking on an unknown adventure or creating art together. If I listen to my conversation partner and, of course, to myself, I notice how often – even unconsciously – we talk in negative terms. What typically follows is encouragement, empathy, pity and similar „responses“. 

Last year I stopped consuming news, newspapers and the like. I still have in mind that they are full of dramaturgy – the game with fear creates attention, it is contagious and likes to take over. 

An important point in this context: Our mind works with projections. The world we see is always a re-action to our thinking. 

This realization was a game changer for me. THE WORLD WE SEE IS ALWAYS A REACTION TO OUR THINKING.

If we have aggression and negativity in us, we live in the sense that the world is attacking us in turn. We are in defense mode. The world is seen as threatening and that puts us in fear mode. And the fear can then manifest itself in really anything for that very person: the darkness of the night, the uncertainty of the future, potential killer viruses, the greed of people, the infidelity of a partner, the fear of being abandoned …  – the list is unfortunately limitless.

So, where does fear originate now? In us, in our inner being, in our mind.

Wow.

Further, as corny as it sounds: the opposite pole to fear is love. 

Love and fear are mutually exclusive. They cannot exist at the same time. It is always either or. I cannot meet the world with an enthusiasm for the unknown, an embrace of the new, and at the same time remain in fear of exactly the same. 

The love of life with all its edges – the all-embracing love – is meant with the expression „love“. With this kind of love we can naturally grow beyond ourselves. With it we manage to approach the situations and adversities of life and the people around us creatively and openly. With this we see life as a big stage on which we can only learn, only win (even if it may temporarily look like a loss). Life is a great adventure. 

We may then be also able to understand that life is nothing to be a afraid of.