Practicing Non Fear | Teaching by Thich Nhat Hanh

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When we have fear in us we lose our solidity We become very weak.
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We are much less than ourselves when we allow the fear to overwhelm us.
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The fact is that every time fear is taking us over, we suffer so much.
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And we have the impression that we are nothing except fear.
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And fear is always fear of something.
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You might be afraid of dying.
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You might be afraid of becoming nothingness.
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You might be afraid of going insane.
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You might be afraid of not being recognized. Not being loved.
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You are afraid of being rejected.
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And that is why we have to look deeply into the nature of our fear and to see what kind of fear it is.
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The fear of being rejected. The fear of not being understood.
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The fear of not being loved.
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The fear of going insane.
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The fear of dying. The fear of becoming nothingness.
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And all of us have that fear.
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And the degree of fear varies.
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But… But it is there.
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But we also have the seed of non fear in us “Abhaya” non fear And we should know how to touch the seed of non fear in us.
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And help us grow so that we can we can take refuge we can make use of it.
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It is like we have the seed of anger in us, but we also have the seed of love and compassion in us.
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So if one seed is strong, the other seed will be weak.
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Therefore, cultivating the opposite seed in order to restore the balance is our practice.
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To deal with fear you have to make use of your body.
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Your body plays a role in your fear.
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Learning to relax, allowing our body to rest is very important, especially if you know the art of mindful breathing.
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So the practice of breathing in and out, to touch the root that you are more than your fear is very important.
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Yes, I have fear within myself, but I also have non fear within myself.
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When you have fear, you suffer. And that is why you are afraid. of your fear. Fear of fear.
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You have experienced the suffering of being overwhelmed by fear. That is why you don’t want that fear to come back.
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But if you make a demonstration that just one time, that you have the capacity of dealing with your fear and then you will not be afraid of your fear anymore because you know that you are capable of handling your fear. So the fear of fear will vanish.