Outwitting the Six Ghosts of Fear

March 6, 2016 — Leave a comment

Napoleon Hill states that before you can apply the principles of the Think and Grow Rich philosophy you must study and understanding three enemies to the sixth sense; indecisions, doubt and fear.

Indecision can be considered as the habit of permitting others to do one’s thinking. Or letting others criticism delay us from moving forward with what our sixth sense is telling you.

Have you ever had an idea and shared it with someone else and they thought it was stupid? Your sixth sense gave you that idea but we let others prevent us from taking action on it. Eventually, if we listen to those negative comments, we stop listening to our sixth sense and think of our ideas as just “pipe dreams.”

With indecision comes doubt. We need to give ourselves a reason why we’re not following through, so we tell ourselves that we don’t think we can do it or it’s a stupid idea like your friend said it was.

So we slowly reprogram our subconscious to believe that we can’t do it. How crazy does that sound?

Unfortunately, it’s crazy enough that eventually, that doubt turns into fear. Now our brain is afraid of doing what our sixth sense originally told us our path was.

Fear is a great motivator, most people will run from something they’re afraid of. But what causes us to fear pursuing our desires? It’s a battle we all fight and most of that fight happens internally.

Napoleon Hill outlines Six Basic Fears that we all suffer from at one time or another, but hopefully not all at once, they are;

The fear of POVERTY
The fear of poverty or clinically known as Peniaphobia, originates from the word penia in Greek meaning poverty and phobia meaning fear. This fear paralyzes you from moving toward your purpose and is the most destructive of all the six fears.

There is a number of symptoms of the fear of poverty, some of which surprised me, but if you don’t conquer these fears you will be destined for the poor house.

INDIFFERENCE is commonly expressed through lack of ambition and accepting life circumstances without protest. It can also be the lack of initiative, imagination, enthusiasm and self-control.

DOUBT is expressed through alibis and excuses and individuals may show envy of successful people, or criticize them.

WORRY is expressed by finding fault with others and individuals may even neglect their personal appearance. They may show signs of nervousness, lack of poise, self-consciousness and self-reliance.

OVER-CAUTION is the habit of looking for the negative side of circumstances and focusing on failure instead of succeeding. Over-cautious individuals may be pessimistic, and could suffer from bad indigestion, poor elimination, auto-intoxication, bad breath and bad disposition.

PROCRASTINATION is the habit of putting off until tomorrow that which should have been done last year. Individuals may refuse to accept responsibility and be willing to compromise with difficulties instead of learning from them and moving to the next step. Other signs of procrastination may be the lack of self-confidence, definiteness of purpose, self-control, initiative, enthusiasm, and ambition.

EXPECTING POVERTY INSTEAD OF DEMANDING RICHES. You’re only the average of the five closest people to you. Individuals need to associate with people who demand and receive riches and not those who accept poverty.

The fear of CRITICISM
The fear of criticism is clinically known as enosiophobia, which not only covers an unnatural fear of criticism, but also a fear of having committed unpardonable sin(s) mentioned in the Bible. This fear is believed to have originated about the same time politics became a profession.

This fear, like the fear of poverty, are fatal to personal achievement because it destroys initiative, and discourages the use of imagination.

The major symptoms for the fear of criticism can be associated with,

SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS which is generally expressed through nervousness, timidity in conversation and in meeting strangers, they may have awkward movements of the hands and limbs and shifting of the eyes.

LACK OF POISE is expressed through nervousness in the presence of others, poor posture of, poor memory.

PERSONALITY can be associated with the inability to make decision, lack personal charm, and are unable to express their opinions.

INFERIORITY COMPLEX can be demonstrated by an individual who uses “big words” to impress others, and may even imitate others in dress, speech and manners. They may even create or inflate achievements to give them a feeling of superiority.

EXTRAVAGANCE is the habit of “keeping up with the Joneses,” even though it causes financial hardships.

LACK OF INITIATIVE can also be the lack of confidence in your own ideas, which leads to the failure to follow opportunities for self-advancement. Individuals may also fear to express opinions or give evasive answers to questions and be either hesitant or deceitful in both words and actions.

LACK OF AMBITION can be seen as mental and physical laziness, lack of self-assertion, or being easily influenced by others. They may also criticize others behind their backs and flatter them to their faces. These individuals may lack tactfulness of manner and speech and be unwillingness to accept the blame for their mistakes.

The fear of ILL HEALTH
The fear of ill health is clinically called hypochondria, people live in fear that they have or will get a serious illness. This type of person spends time preparing for sickness, talks about death, and saves money for burial expenses. Unfortunately, unethical people engage in the business of “selling health” or advertising remedies to ill health symptoms, which keeps this fear alive in some people.

Symptoms of the fear of ill health include,

AUTO-SUGGESTION is finding within themselves symptoms of all kinds of diseases to the extent that it appears they enjoy the imaginary illness and speak as if was real. Some individual’s may even experiment with diets, physical exercises and try home and “quack” remedies.

HYPOCHONDRIA is considered the habit of talking about illness and expecting its appearance. It is brought on by negative thinking and nothing but positive thought can cure hypochondria.

EXERCISE is viewed as dangerous and people avoid activities that may cause physical harm, which can result in excess weight.

SUSCEPTIBILITY to illness happens when this fear breaks down our body’s immune system and creates favorable conditions for diseases, which we fear.

SELF-CODDLING is a habit of making a bid for sympathy, using an imaginary illness due to laziness, or to serve as an alibi for lack of ambition.

INTEMPERANCE is the habit of using alcohol or narcotics to destroy pains such as headaches instead of eliminating the cause. This may also be the overuse of prescription medications, which causes over 100,000 deaths a year.

The fear of LOSS OF LOVE OF SOMEONE

The original source of this inherent fear grew out of man’s polygamous habit of stealing his friends mate, and his habit of taking liberties with her whenever he could.

This fear is the most painful of all the six basic fears. It probably plays more havoc with the body and mind than any of the other basic fears, and can be the ruin of many people.

Symptoms of the fear of loss of love of someone include,

JEALOUSY is the habit of being suspicious of friends and loved ones without any reasonable evidence of sufficient grounds. Jealous individuals accuse their spouse of infidelity without grounds and are generally suspicious of everyone.

FAULT FINDING is the habit of blaming friends, relatives, and loved ones upon the slightest provocation, or without any cause whatsoever.

GAMBLING is caused by someone who has the habit of spending beyond one’s means, or incurring debts, to provide gifts for loved ones with the belief that love can be bought.

The fear of OLD AGE

The fear of old age or clinically called, Gerascophobia, is derived from Greek ‘gerazo’ which is a phrase that means ‘I am getting old’ and phobia meaning dread or fear. This fear grows out of the possibility of ill health leading to the loss of freedom and independence, poverty, or having the instilled fear from religious beliefs of what comes after life, heaven or hell.

The commonest symptoms of the fear of old age is the tendency to slow down and develop an inferiority complex do to “being old.”

The other symptom is the habit of speaking apologetically of one’s self as “being old” instead of expressing gratitude for having reached the age of wisdom and understanding.

The worse habit of this fear is killing off initiative, imagination, and self-reliance by falsely believing you’re too old to do certain activities.

The fear of DEATH

The fear of death is clinically called thanatophobia and is distinguished from necrophobia, which is a specific fear of dead or dying persons and/or things, not one’s own death or dying.
To some this is the cruelest of all the basic fears due to their specific religious beliefs on what comes after death.

In the book Napoleon Hill criticizes religions for creating fear based on the belief that hell is where the devil burns you for eternity. The thought of eternal punishment, with fire, can often cause people to lose their reason to live life to the fullest and can make happiness impossible.

The general symptoms of this fear starts with the habit of thinking about dying instead of making the most of life, and having a lack of purpose, or suitable occupation. This fear is more prevalent among the aged.

The greatest of all remedies for the fear of death is a BURNING DESIRE FOR ACHIEVEMENT, and being of service to others. A busy person seldom has time to think about dying, they find life too thrilling to worry about death.

The big question is, do we attract what we fear?

Fortunately for us, fear is a state of mind. We can overcome our fears, if we believe we can. We control our thoughts so when you get a negative thought you need to reprogram your thinking to turn it into a positive thought.

Now I’m not saying we need to walk around and tell ourselves that everything is just fine, we need to face our adversities. But we need to face them knowing that we can overcome them, not consistently worry about them.

Napoleon Hill wraps up Think and Grow Rich by describing the “Seventh Basic Evil, The Devil’s Workshop.” The devil’s workshop lurks in the evils caused by something we all deal with, not only from others, but from within ourselves.

The evil of negative influences is the death of many dreams and if you fail to overcome this evil you’ll forfeit your right to achieve your desires. Negative influences come from the most unlikely places, our friends and relatives. If you believe in these negative influences you’ll develop a state of mind that will destroy your mental attitude. Once that happens you’re under the devil’s influence and will drift through life and never live your purpose.

In order to win the battle and defeat the devil you need to protect yourself against negative influences. This may include avoiding negative people who criticize instead of encourage you. Keep the negative influences out of your head so it won’t damage your subconscious mind.

Are you struggling with negative influences and accomplishing your goals? Answer the self-analysis test questions at the end of the chapter to see where you may need to improve in order to stop your alibis that may be deeply rooted in habits. Master your habits and gain possession of the Master Key that unlocks the door to Life’s bountiful riches.

“The first and best victory is to conquer self. To be conquered by self is, of all things, the most shameful and vile.”
~ Plato

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