“I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that his justice cannot sleep forever” – Thomas Jefferson
“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself “- Franklin D. Roosevelt
In a previous blog, “On Hope as an Antidote to Fear,” I indicated and still believe that hope can help soothe the nervous system and create a segue to better health and relationships. Rebecca Solnit stresses that although hope is beneficial, it “…is not the belief that everything was, is, or will be fine.” 1.
Several recent polls have underscored the alarming increase in societal fear. The American Psychiatric Association (APA) Poll of 2024, for example, revealed that 43% of adults reported feeling more anxious and stressed than they did the previous year, an increase from 37% in 2023 and 32% in 2022. The top anxiety in this poll and others was identified as “fear” about current events and the economy.
Where do we start to address this pattern? It is essential to comprehend the biological implications and external triggers of fear to modify one’s biological response to it, ultimately. This will help make a difference in one’s mindset to fend off the barrage of everyday stressful triggers.
Our nervous system is programmed to respond with a fight-or-flight response to a threat, or a state of heightened fear. This also negatively affects the ever-important vagus nerve‘s function in maintaining a calm state and monitoring our sense of security. 2.
Our nervous system is crucial and has served our species well. The problem, however, is that it is involuntary, meaning it could remain stuck in a state of stress, which many believe can be a significant contributing factor in exacerbating chronic diseases.
We don’t need to be saving our lives twenty-four hours a day. This constant state of fear produces irrational phobias and anticipatory anxiety. The question is how we proceed to mitigate the consequences of long-term fear to augment recommended stress management techniques.
The task is to create a new mindset regarding fear; it is vital to acknowledge that we are wired for relationships. We are inherently interconnected. When we are fearful, we create rigid responses that hinder us from respecting our relationships and adjusting our actions to mitigate fear accordingly. We need to celebrate our interdependency, which is the essence of an ecological mindset.
If we are in a constant state of fear, we become limited with our senses, making it difficult to process information and make sound decisions. Fearlessness is what love seeks,” according to Hannah Arendt, and it is, as Gregory Bateson believed, that “Every move we make in fear of the next disaster hastens it.” Overcoming fear is not a series of techniques; it is akin to the peaceful yet influential, harmonious martial art of Aikido, which emphasizes controlling the fear response by blending with the threat and mutually learning from others and our environment. Robert Friedman, psychotherapist and Aikido sensei, believes that “The categories of win or lose are temporal. Empowerment is a manifestation of a greater power which has no opposite.”
The best way to begin to help our nervous system and vagus nerve when we’re stuck in a fearful state is to adopt an ecological perspective. An ecological (or systemic) view consists of experiencing the world holistically. The basic criterion is to understand how the whole of any system, including the Earth itself, is more than the sum of its parts yet still dependent on the interdependency of its parts. A watch can still “function” with one broken gear, but it will give you the wrong time.
This framework encourages us to discuss and examine our relationships to identify how we can correct broken patterns (or gears) by looking at how we are interdependent within the different contexts of our lives. An example is to examine how different contextual patterns, such as those within the family, school, media, peers, economy, and health, affect a child. This fosters a more inclusive understanding of a child, as well as parents, other adults, and the community. This perspective enables wider possibilities for reducing fear.
Within an ecological perspective, it is essential to understand the role of conflict and how it perpetuates fear, especially when it is adversarial and injurious. In many instances, it can be the source of creativity. Any artist knows how it can bring beauty. Michelangelo carved incredible statues from slabs of marble. However, when conflict produces adversarial division, it often escalates into exponential violence between two individuals or countries, such as in an arms race. It can also take the form of one side suppressing another, as in authoritarian regimes or couples’ discord. This maintains a painful relationship in which both sides become part of a no-win double bind situation, a primary source of fear, as indicated in the above surveys.
The way out of this painful stalemate is to rise above the division through assertive empathic win-win dialogue, supporting mutual learning across all contexts affected by the conflict. Forums for such resolution include community focus groups, couples/family therapy, as well as programs like Warm Data, which discusses information about the interrelationships that integrate elements of a complex system. 3.
Another component to alleviate the detrimental consequences of fear is to practice a successful breathing protocol. There are many forms found in yogic and meditation circles. I am a proponent of Coherent Breathing, developed by Stephen Elliott and extensively researched. It consists of a six-second inhalation and a six-second exhalation while visualizing a positive thought or image.
This maintains our mind-body health while being one of the few ways to help our nervous system transition from the sympathetic part (the revved-up part) to the parasympathetic part (the calm part) when it is stuck in a state of fear. It also benefits the vagus nerve and heart rate variability. This helps break the detrimental fear cycle. As a result, relaxation and meditation exercises can better allow one to see different possibilities that transcend the fight-or-flight restrictions, revealing the part-to-whole dynamics of our existence. 4.
Here are some prompts to help you address fear.
Is fear a result or even a symptom of not knowing our role in the wider ecological world we live in?
Can resolving fear occur when you see the interconnected patterns of life from a broader, holistic perspective?
What if you view fear as a consequence of relationships and social contexts rather than isolated events?
How would fear be altered if you see problems from a wider perspective that is more than individual experiences?
Can fear be related to the frustration of our role in this ecological interconnected reality?
Could having more interactive dialogue and mutual learning from one another help dispel fear?
What if we focus on improving our communication to understand better and support our interdependency? Would this alleviate fear and improve mental health?
“Ultimately we know deeply that the other side of every fear is freedom.” – Marilyn Ferguson
