1. Poverty
2. Criticism
3. Ill Health
4. Loss of Love
5. Old Age
6. Death
We focused on poverty and criticism already. This time we'll delve into the rest. Some of the symptoms may seem dated.
#3 Fear of Ill Health
Fear of disease can produce physical symptoms of the disease feared.
Auto-Suggestion
- negative self-talk
- “enjoying” imaginary diseases, treating them as real
- favouring “quack” treatments over professional help
- concentrating the mind upon disease
- negative thinking --> expecting disease to appear
- lack of physical exercise leads to becoming over-weight (see Fitness Club Options)
- body’s resistance breaks down --> easier to contract a disease
- can lead to too much time preparing for sickness
- using an imaginary illness to seek sympathy (and get out of work)
- hides laziness and lack of ambition
- use of alcohol and other drugs to destroy pains, rather than eliminating the causes
This may be the most painful fear. At least it seems that way if you listen to popular music.
Jealousy
- suspicion of friends and loved ones without reasonable evidence
- suspicion of everyone --> no absolute faith in anyone
- with friends, relatives, colleagues, and loved ones
- without any cause
- thinking love can be bought
- gambling, stealing, cheating, over-spending
- leads to insomnia, nervousness, lack of persistence, lack of self-control, lack of self-reliance, bad temper
Old age can take away freedom and independence (physical and economic).
Slowing Down
- feeling the best years are past
Apologizing for Being Old
- rather than expressing gratitude for being alive
- no longer taking initiative, using imagination or maintaining self-reliance
- dressing and acting like much younger people --> ridiculed by friends and strangers
This fear can be the cruelest fear for some. Is there life after life? The question of what happens after death can be troubling.
Thinking About Dying
- instead of making the most of life
- too much time to worry when not busy
- could leave loved ones in poverty due to death or illness prior to death
