Fear!

Once someone said, “We have nothing to fear but fear itself.” What does this person mean to convey with such a statement? Fear is an emotion felt by many if not all of us at one time. If we have nothing to fear but fear, then I could put fear into a whole different context.

What if fear is not an emotion, but a state of mind paralyzing thought and even movement, rendering an individual totally helpless? Fear in this context can be overcome and conquered using your power over your mind. This power is the power to respond to a situation as you wish, not as your mind wishes. A conditioned response to an uncontrolled situation.

Pilots in the military and in commercial aviation are conditioned to respond to emergency situations not in fear, as most people not trained would respond, but in a conditioned response of calm. A pilot acting in fear kills himself and everyone onboard his aircraft.

In an aircraft emergency, there is certainly fear felt by the pilot and the crew. Believe me, I have experienced the fear of burning engines, pieces of my aircraft abruptly leaving and other emergencies many times over in my 18,000 hours of flight time. It is because of my conditioned response to fear, I am writing this blogpost today.

If fear then is controllable. Your affirmation statement should be: I have nothing to fear but fear itself.