Symtoms of a Fear Based Mindset and How to Overcome Them

Fear - it’s the ultimate highjacker of our dreams, hopes and creativity. It can drive procrastination into overdrive or halt us in trying new things or daring to think out of the box.

That said, It also serves as a purpose. It helps us from falling into dangerous situations and serves as an incredibly resourceful self protection mechanism.

A lack of awareness is what drives fear (your nemesis, EGO) into overdrive and if not closely monitored, it can ultimately take the driving seat of how your life pans out.

Think about the unhealthy situations, jobs or personal relationships you got yourself into. How did you get there?

Here are some symptoms of a fear based mindset and how to overcome them.

Doubt - a common symptom in a decision making scenario. Doubt has a purpose. It teaches you to be critical and to look at an argument from two sides of the coin. However, when you are incessantly doubting to the point of stalling into inaction; that’s a fear based mindset in overdrive. The only way to tackle this is to investigate what is driving the doubt and to seek the why behind your worry. When you dig deeper, you get to the core of the truth behind your worry. Doubt is a signal to be reckoned with instead of shoving it under a carpet until you arrive in situations you never wanted to be in. Dig into the intention.

Competitive mindset - The trap of self comparison is evident throughout our schooling years; sprinkle some social media into that mix and it can spiral out of control. Sharing in community is an antidote to the competitive mindset; It demonstrates that we are connected to eachother and that our actions and words impacts others. If we mindlessly compete, it demonstrates a sense of separateness from others. Instead, think how your actions & words may benefit others. (Including social media for example!)

Attachment - in Buddhism, attachment is a key concept to grapple with. It’s healthy to have dreams, goals and desires, but what makes people unhappy is the attachment to achieving them. Just being ok with how your dreams will evolve either way is an incredibly strong mindset to train and will lead to other opportunities coming your way; Trusting that things have a way of working out is the antidote to attachment. (As long as you put in the work)

Security Driven Comfort - we are creatures of habit and safety . Although we do need a degree of security to function, when we do not challenge our security based habits , we don’t grow as a human being. Trying new things as a lifestyle choice is a way of battling fear based comfort. The discomfort we feel is in fact our teacher to propel us to move into action and experience new things which were usually not as bad as we assumed them to be.

Eliminate Doubt with Intention

Eliminate Competition with Community

Eliminate Attachment with Trust

Eliminate Comfort with Growth

(All these concepts can be embodied in your yoga practise)

Go for your dreams! Things always have a way of working out :-)

With 🖤💛❤️

Mike