Writing at the end of the Great Depression, Napoleon Hill suggests that most people have six basic fears. They are: fear of poverty, criticism, ill health, loss of love, old age and death.

According to more modern surveys, some of the most commonly feared objects are spiders, snakes, heights, water, enclosed spaces, tunnels and bridges, social rejection, failure and public speaking. In an innovative test of what people fear the most, Bill Tancer analyzed the most frequent online search queries that involved the phrase, “fear of…”. This follows the assumption that people tend to seek information on the issues that concern them the most. His top ten list of fears consisted of flying, heights, clowns, intimacy, death, rejection, people, snakes, success, and driving.

In general, people appear to be most afraid of two things: the threat of pain or death, and the threat of social rejection or isolation. I would go further and suggest that, beyond the survival instincts that keep us safe, there is only one real fear and that is the fear that we can’t handle whatever happens to us. The fact that most people do handle even the most horrendous occurences indicates that most fear, which is usually about a future event that usually never happens, is completely unnnecesary.

Fear is nothing more than a state of mind and so if we learn to control and direct our thoughts it no longer has any power over us.

Tell me what you are most afraid of and we’ll discuss it at our next event. See Inspired Events for details