The Psyche of Doomsday Prediction: Why are so many attracted to it?

As I am writing this article, it is almost 8pm over here in Kuala Lumpur on 21 December 2012, the last day of the Mayan calendar, and supposedly the day the world ends. The day is almost over for us here, and very likely it will end as normal as before.

Have you been stocking up food stuff at home, just in case? I know of at least a friend who admitted that she had stocked some some extra food in her house – just in case.

As I was opening up my clinic to start the day’s work yesterday morning, a patient was waiting for me. She walked towards me and asked, “Doctor, do you think what they say about tomorrow will happen? Should I be prepared?” At first, the questions did not register in my mind but eventually it sank in. She was referring to the end of the world prediction!

Doomsday predictions have been around for as long as we can remember. In recent memories, we have had our own Y2K doomsday prediction, which did not come true. It was not even close. But why do so many feel so drawn towards doomsday predictions? What are their appeals?

According to Stephanie Pappas’ article published on LiveScience, doomsday predictions are based on the need to reconcile two conflicting beliefs. The first is that there is something terribly wrong with the world we live in. The second is that there is a higher good or purpose to existence. The draw of doomsday predictions is that it helps to reconcile these two beliefs – allowing a higher cosmic power to sweep away all the wrongs in the world and start afresh.

If you are fascinated by doomsday predictions, perhaps you should take a closer look at your mind and honestly examine why you are drawn to them.

So, once again I asked, have you stocked up extra food stuff just in case? What does this action tell you about yourself? Does it reflect your deeper fear about death? Is there some degree of disenchantment about the world you live in? Do you see the world as hostile? Do you see the human condition as hopeless? Are you in despair and see the end of the world as an honorable way out?

It could be all of these or none of these. In any case, this presents a good opportunity for an honest self reflection. Perhaps we might learn something interesting about ourselves and our inner psyche.

 

My Fight for the Joy of being Defenseless

We’ve all heard of stories of Mahatma Ghandi and non-violence, and Jesus advising us to turn the other cheek when struck, but how does that relate to us every day?

I’ve struggled with that very question, especially having been an advocate for “eye for an eye” for many years. It made sense to me that if somebody set a home ablaze, that their home would in turn be torched, and I didn’t understand what was meant by “an eye for an eye makes the world blind.” That just seemed like spiritual nonsense to me.

So often in my life I’ve thought about the “fight.” Not so much in a literal sense with my fists, but rather, on a mental level. The experiences of my youth led me to want to right the wrongs, particularly those wrongs against me, and as mentioned before I saw “eye for an eye” as a means for equal and fair justice. I would “fight” when I’d flip off or honk at another driver who cut me off, when a friend or family member “wronged” me and I felt the need to set them straight or just to be “right” about something. And I definitely “fought” (politely, mind you) when somebody cut in front of me in line. Read more

A Surefire Way to manage your Fear while leading a Happier and Healthier Life

Imagine discovering a way to get rid of your fears in a quick and painless manner. In fact it can even become fun!

Did you know only two of all the fears you have are innate: The fear of falling and the fear of loud noises. Most of your fears were learned in early childhood and then in later life under stressful conditions.

Traditional therapeutic approaches would probably have you trying to figure out where your fear originally came from. Maybe they’d have you digging around in your childhood memories, recalling times you ate the next-door neighbours purple Tulips. This type of approach tends to associate the client into reliving unpleasantness and can take a long time to achieve useful results. Personally I think this style is way out of date and bordering on torture. Read more

Learning from Fear

Nobody likes to feel fearful and because of that, most people will habitually react to fear by avoiding, repressing or suppressing it. It takes courage and wisdom to see that our fear can be our greatest teacher.

When we examine our fear, we will often discover that it is irrational. There is no real basis or substance to our fear. That is why fear is often described as “False Evidence Appearing Real”. Fear is a self created illusion built upon past experiences or imprints. The situation may have changed but the imprints compel us to react in a knee jerk manner without proper examination and re-evaluation of the new situation.

The good news is that this habit or tendency CAN be transformed. Read more

How to Overcome the Fear of Dying

As a doctor and a hospice volunteer, one of the most common fears that I encounter in my job is the fear of dying. In fact, this fear is so common that we have come to accept it as part and parcel of our life. In our fear-driven world where a lot of our actions are motivated by fear, the fear of dying seems like just another fear we need to live with.

However, I have had the good fortune to come across people who are able to die with courage, dignity and peace. During their final days and even up to the moment of death, they remained in peace and without a trace of fear. It almost looked as if they welcome death.

Regardless of the kind of illnesses they may be suffering from, each of these people have some common traits. Read more

What are you afraid of?

There’s this common, well-known truth that “what you focus on expands.” It’s simple math. The more you focus on the things you want, the more of those things you manifest in your life.

The reverse is also true. The more you focus on the things you don’t want, the more of those things you manifest in your life.

The problem is that 9 out of 10 people live within a “Matrix of Fear” where they’re programmed to be afraid of everything, including success, failure, health problems, money problems, relationships — and the list is endless. Read more

What are you waiting for?

Are You Putting Off Your Dreams? Or have things slowed down recently? Is your life visibly changing the way you want it to? Or are you still stuck with the same problems?

I woke up today thinking about three people who contacted me this week concerning the progress they were making reaching their goals. They each said the same thing in a different way.

Although they all made good progress in the beginning, they are now all stalled. It’s very frustrating for me because I got myself caught up in their dreams. I imagined how their lives would be when they’ve completed the changes they needed to make. I can easily see the benefits they will gain such as a much larger income, more satisfying relationships and the pride of knowing that they are doing exactly what they always wanted to do – and earning a great living from it. Read more

Top 7 Signs of Self-Sabotaging Behaviour

Having trouble reaching all your goals? Are you going for what you want, but feeling like something is road-blocking the way? Are you finding yourself “not” doing some of the things you know you should be doing?

You may be a victim of sabotage—self-sabotage. How do you know, and what can you do about it? Read on and see.

1. Focusing on what is not working, not right or missing from your life. Read more

Why is this happening to me… AGAIN?

This article is a review of a book by Dr. Michael Ryce called “Why is This Happening to me… AGAIN?”. Dr. Ryce is a naturopathic doctor who has deep understanding of the healing processes, and in particular the healing of the mind.

In this book, Dr. Ryce took a look at a very prevalent pattern of repeated behavior common to all of us, and especially so to some of us. It is our habit of getting into trouble with the same type of people over and over again in our lives, or the pattern of getting ourselves entangled with the same situation over and over again. It is as though we cannot learn from our mistakes. In fact, very often we do not consider ourselves as the problem. Rather, we put the blame on that person or that situation.

According to Dr. Ryce, there is one thing that is consistently present in all of these situation – YOU! Even if you were to relocate yourself to another place or country, chances are that the problem will continue to haunt you even in that new country. This is because even after you have relocated somewhere else, YOU are still there. You bring the problem with you. You ARE the problem. Rather, it is your mental habit that is giving you this problem.

As long as you cannot see it in you, or you refuse to see it, you will continue to be plagued by the same problem. After all, whatever it is that you deny or suppress will eventually find expression into your outer experiences through a process called projection. Since this blockage of personal error is mostly unconscious, this proves to be a great challenge if you want to change your mental habit.

Fortunately, Dr. Ryce introduced a very simple and elegant tool to identify the erroneous thinking process within us. It is a 12-step worksheet called a Reality Management Worksheet. Using this worksheet, you will be able to first identify the person or situation that triggers a negative emotion in you, recognize and name this emotion, and also identify the thought that leads to this negative feeling. You will also be guided to identify the specific expectation that you wanted out of that person or situation which was not met.

It then leads you into a process of seeing that what you perceived about that person or situation is merely something you projected and not reality itself. Once you are able to recognize this, you can then let go of this projection through the process of forgiveness, cancelling or letting loose. In this way, as we work on each trigger that leads to negative feelings in us, we can gradually correct our distorted view of the world and begin to see things as they really are.

I find Dr. Michael Ryce’s work to be extremely refreshing and effective in identifying our erroneous thinking, and I highly recommend that you read his book. Dr. Ryce is generous enough to give away the ebook version of “Why is This Happening to me… AGAIN?” for free. You can visit his website to read all about his work and writings, and to download the free ebook and worksheets at WhyAgain.com

 

Living without Fear

Is it possible to live a life without fear?

In all probability, you have not come across anyone in your life who is without fear. We therefore, from our own experiences, generally believe that fear is part and parcel of a normal life.

However, in recent times, we have heard of people who are able to live their lives without fear. People like Eckhart Tolle, Byron Katie and Jan Frazier are a handful of people who have written about and share their discovery of a fearless life. In olden times, many mystics and gurus have also been able to achieve living their lives without fear and sufferings.

So living a fearless life is possible. It is also desirable. According to those who have achieved a fearless life, it is our natural state. In other words, a fearless life is how we should be. So the lives we are living now, with fear, is abnormal. It is a symptom of a deep rooted dis-ease. Just because we are used to being fearful does not make fear normal. It is not.

Fear presents itself in various ways. The most obvious form of fear is being overtly fearful of things like impending injury or death, illnesses and pain. However, fear can also manifest itself in more subtle ways, such as mild anxiety, depression, irritable, anger, need to be loved and accepted, seeking approval from self and/or others, need for security and safety, and even the need to control. In short, whatever negative emotions we have are manifestations of fear.

How can we live without fear?

When we look at the common factor in all those who are living fearless lives now, and even those in the past, one thing stands out. They had the realization that we are spiritual beings, and they live according to that fact. Being spiritual, we are indestructible and it is also within our own power to manifest the lives we want through mastery of our mind. We become responsible for our lives.

Thus, as long as we do not see ourselves as spiritual beings, we are unlikely to be able to live a fearless life. Why? Because believing that we are totally and only this physical being makes us completely vulnerable to diseases, destruction and death. Little wonder we constantly seek to reassure ourselves by seeking control and security but no matter how much control and security we have, we will still feel inadequate.

How can we therefore be free from fear? The answer is that we cannot be free from fear as long as we believe that we are only this physical body.

We cannot find peace without spirituality.

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