Overcoming Fear

Airing Tuesday, 5 May 2015, 11:00 AM ET

Are there times in your life when you feel stuck due to a deep-seated fear? There are so many kinds of fears: fear of heights, fear of flying, fear of being in an elevator or a closed space, fear of people, or the fear of death. The list of fears human beings can experience is endless!

For a person experiencing fear, it can take over their mental and emotional well-being and show up in the physical body in numerous ways. Essentially, fears stop us from living a fulfilling and authentic life. While no fear is big or small, untreated, it can destroy a life. As we move towards higher awareness, becoming aware of our fears, facing them, accepting them and taking steps to overcome them, can help us move to our deeper self, our soul’s purpose!

But can fears like the fear of death even be overcome?

Let us look at how fears affect us, physically, emotionally, and mentally. We will also explore ways to overcome fears that stop us in our tracks and prevent us from moving on and living our life’s true purpose.

About Guest Smita

Smita is an artist, art teacher, and dedicated to community service. She has a doctorate in art education with over 20 years of work done with children and non-profits. Smita especially loves working with kids because that connects her to her inner child. From the age of about 5 or 6, she found herself wondering about the purpose of her life and the mysteries surrounding death. She also had some out of body experiences as a child which she vividly recalls but could not understand then. As a child her overpowering sensitivity to everything: people’s comments, smells, touch, hearing, etc. baffled her. Smita is gifted with a photographic memory and recollects moments from the time she was a crawling baby.

Smita first recognized her fear of death in a big way when a few experiences related to unnatural deaths of loved ones in her early 20s endlessly haunted her. These were followed by an accident in 1999 which she miraculously survived, and again followed by a life altering event concerning the birth of her older daughter in 2000. There were numerous miracles and synchronicities at the time of her daughter’s very unusual birth. While all these events were emotionally traumatic, they also nudged Smita on to her spiritual path. Four years ago she decided to address her fear of death and went into deep research on the topic. The answers she found, freed her from that fear and gave her new insights on the purpose of human life. Smita uses several methods to conduct her research. She collects her data through interviewing, reading and journaling voraciously on the subject. She draws her information from a vast array of resources such as ancient Hindu texts like Kathopnishad, Yoga Vasishtha and The Bhagwat Geeta, as well as works of modern day Western researchers like Dr. Brian Weiss. Smita also practices meditation regularly that has further helped her overcome her fears and strengthened her internally. Most of all, Smita has found that her natural propensity to live life fully and keep herself open to every kind of experience and emotion has further helped her grow fearless and understand the purpose of her life. Smita blogs her experiences regularly on her FB page ‘Overcome fears and live your authentic life’.