We are born with only 2 fears!

[pauly j]

Hey all,


We are born with only 2 fears!  The fear of falling and the fear of loud noises (startling)!  Every other fear above and beyond that is learned!  Every thought that goes into our minds, weather it enters through our eyes, in what we see, or through our ears, in which we hear, is learned!  Protect your mind from anything that can cause you to have negative thoughts from entering!  This is so important!  Looking back at my life, I use to read every negative article in the newspaper...who died, who got robbed, who got hurt, etc, etc!  I use to watch morbid movies of death, negative news coverate of disasters and chaos, etc!  I would listen to the news on radio and hear all of the bad things going on in our world!  After many years of hearing, and seeing all these negative stuff, it is no wonder that I have anxiety!  Our minds start to associate these thoughts with our feelings and moods!  Today, I consciously protect my mind from any bad, scary, negative thought!  I use to enjoy reading, watching, and listening to all of these negative things, not no more!  It has made a tremendous difference in my life today!


pauly j

[Carryon]

Not sure I can agree that avoiding the bad things in life is the way to learn to tolerate and ignore them; it's certainly not progressive thinking on handling stress.

Whether we are born with those two fears or not - and I do agree -- as our brain develops we are conditioned to have many more fears, while some people more than others and are not afraind of falling or loud noises.

Carl Sagan theorized that because the fear of snakes is so common, it's programmed into our primitive brain along with a fear of falling from trees, which might explain why snakes and especially falling are common nightmares.

[pauly j]

Thanks for clarifying Carryon,

I agree with you there!  What I meant was that as babies we have those 2 fears!  Sorry for the mix up!  I think by trying to avoid negative input into our brain, we can limit the amount being entered into our conscious minds!  By avoiding, we certainly cannot eliminate all, but just minimize the best we can!  BTW, Carryon, I like reading up on your responses to the postings here!  I have really learned from the wisdom you share here, and it has made me realize and understand things that I never knew!  Thanks!

pauly j

[QtTiffles]

thanks for sharing! thats very true about the snakes thing...yuck! lol

[Zaelaura]

there have also been extensive studies showing that the most common causation behind developing fear of something is by witnessing others display fear - one of the most basic survival mechanisms for animals who have evolved to live in communities... we observe the actions and reactions of others around us, and absorb as much information as possible as a way of avoiding harm, ourselves.

people who suffer from anxiety and exaggerated fear often show hyperactivity in the fear-center of the brain (amygdala)... the person themselves may not have had many negative experiences... but they are biologically programmed to react the way they do when they encounter anything that can be seen as a threat to any part of their species.

so unless you think people should be secluded from other humans from birth onward, people who are predisposed to a heightened sense of fear are probably going to experience that fear with or without watching the news and reading scary stories.