Understanding Spirituality

CHAPTER 1 WHY DO I FEEL SCARED SOMETIMES? Everyone gets scared sometimes. Do you? Do you tell your parents or your friends when something scares you? Unless something really big is happening, like in your school or in your town or in our country, or if they feel they’re in danger, most people don’t talk much about being afraid. Adults get scared too. But mostly they express their fear by saying they’re concerned about something or they’re worried about something. They might be worried about having enough money to pay their bills or they might be concerned about violence in a nearby city. It still means they’re scared even though they use other words. Sometimes a little bit of being afraid is a good thing because it makes you careful. For example, you certainly want to be a bit afraid and careful when you cross the street or ride your bike so you don’t get hit by a car. Or you want to be cautious about being near people who are ill so you don’t get sick. You see, fear comes in all sizes. You might be a little afraid of not getting a good score on tomorrow’s math test. You might be a little more afraid that you said something stupid to your friend and he’ll tell all the other kids and they will laugh at you or be mad at you. You might be even more afraid of the bully who takes your lunch money every day and gives you a bonk on the head while he’s at it. You might be a lot more afraid if you hear your parents talking about someone breaking into houses in your neighborhood and hurting people. But being truly scared is bigger. You probably would be really scared if that robber broke into your house and punched your dad in the nose, right? I would! Your body actually reacts to big fear. That means you are being threatened in some way and so your body gets flooded with a hormone called adrenalin. It can make you feel anxious and jittery because it prepares your body to fight off the threat or to run away. This works really well if your house is collapsing or you run into an escaped tiger. But the problem sometimes is, fight off what and run to where? Sometimes our fears aren’t about physical things but are about the things in our minds. I remember lying in bed at night and being really scared. I would get this big hard ball in the middle of my body. It was actually a knot of anxiety but it felt like a hard ball, and I didn’t know what to do about it. Sometimes I couldn’t fall asleep. And what was I scared of? I was scared of things I didn’t understand and people couldn’t explain to me or didn’t explain in a way that made me feel better. Of course, I didn’t ask, either, but I somehow felt no one really had the answers anyway. I didn’t know how to get the answers that would relieve me of that anxious feeling. I think many people are scared just the same way. These are some of the things that scared me: • Knowing that everyone dies, including ourselves and the people we love • Being told there is a chance our souls could go to hell • Hearing that there are extraterrestrials out there who are very powerful and who may want to harm us • The end of the world • Ghosts, spirits and demons • The concept of forever I’m going to tell you what I’ve learned about all of these things. If you think about my explanations, I promise you’ll feel a lot better. Are you ready?