Fear and peace

I observe fear in people a lot. Fear is a primal emotion that can often be covered up by aggression. The “I’m fearless” façade is a classic cover-up for somebody who is, in reality, scared witless.

Fear also produces remarkable chemical changes in our bodies. Copious amounts of adrenaline are produced by our mindbody systems during times of fear, resulting in the “fight/flight” response being triggered. All of our energy is then diverted either to running from or fighting off the perceived threat.

This diversion of energy means that other bodily systems have less energy with which to operate effectively, such as the digestive system etc. No wonder, then, that we currently suffer from a plethora of conditions like bowel dysfunction, chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia, when fear and stress are so much a part of our daily lives.

The opposite state of being to fear could be said to be peace. Peace also produces remarkable changes in our bodies, but completely different to those produced by fear. Instead of adrenaline, peace is more endorphin-based, allowing your bodily systems to enter into a state of recovery and rejuvenation known as parasympathetic arousal. During parasympathetic arousal our bodies can heal and become healthy again. It’s interesting to note that the word “healthy” also contains the word “heal”.

.....Al