FEAR: What are you........?



Thursday:  Well rested after a snow day




FEAR: What are you afraid of?




FYI: The ads that you see to the left are legitimate ads put on by Goodle Ad Sense.  I get paid every time someone clicks on one of these ads. (More money for my Honduras fund.) I'm not saying this to ask you to click on them, but I wanted to let you know that they aren't spam.




I have been tossing this idea around because I'm studying the book, Conquering Your Giants by Nancy Eichman, in my Ladies' Wednesday night Bible class. Most of my inspiration and ideas have come from this book. 





I always enjoy this class no matter what we study.  All of the ladies (ages anywhere from 18 - 80+ years) feel comfortable sharing their thoughts, feelings, and struggles.  This class and the women there, are always an encouragement to me.  Every time I go, I'm blessed!






We all know that fears are normal.  According to our book, these are the top ten fears:

1. Public Speaking

2.  Heights

3. Insects

4. Money Problems

5. Deep Water

6.  Sickness

7.  Death

8.  Flying

9. Loneliness

10.  Dogs

Fear:

If we are honest, I think most of can find at least one thing in this list that we have a fear of.  I'm not afraid of insects at all, but I do know people who absolutely hate them.

Phobias:

A phobia is different from fear.  A phobia is defined as an anxiety disorder characterized by extreme and irrational fear of simple things or social situations.  The National Institue of Mental Health reported that 8.7-18.1% of all Americans suffer from phobias. 

A simple search turned up some very "interesting" phobias.

AND NOW, A POP QUIZ:  I WILL TEST YOUR AMATEUR KNOWLEDGE OF ABNORMAL PSYCHOLOGY!!!! 

Can you guess these phobias????

(FYI: I'm not the best typist.  I hope I got the spelling correct.)

Deipnophobia

a fear of dining or dinner conversations!!!!

Syngenesophobia

a fear of relatives or an intense, chronic fear of being watched or judged by relatives!!!!

Zemmiphobia

a fear of the giant mole rat. (They only live in Siberia!)

Pteridophobia

a fear of ferns!! Not to be confused with Botanophobia which is the fear of plants.  (The actress, Christina Ricci, once admitted to being afraid of houseplants.  Was she kidding???)

Genuphobia

a fear of knees!! (These people avoid places like the beach where knees would be on prominent display!)

Aulophobia is a fear of flutes!

Kyphophobia

a fear of becoming crooked or stooped!! (These people usually avoid situations where they might have to stoop. They may be afraid they will get stuck in this position.)

Coulrophobia

WARNING!!!!!SOME PEOPLE MAY FIND THE FOLLOWING IMAGES DISTURBING!!!

a fear of clowns! (This one is very common.)  The serial killer, John Wayne Gacy, performed as a party clown.

Phagophobia

a fear of swallowing!!  This can lead to malnutrition.









Cathisophobia is a fear of sitting down!!!







Ephebiphobia

a fear of teenagers or youth!!!

Porphyrophobia

a fear of the color purple!!!

Arachibutyrophobia

a fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of your mouth!!!!

Blennophbia is a fear of slime.

Koumpounophobia  (I have heard of this one!!!!)

a fear of buttons on clothing!!  Feelings may range from disgust to panic.

Nomophobia

a fear of not having access to your cell phone.

Sesquipedalophobia

a fear of long words!!!! Lol

Pteronophobia

a fear of feathers or being tickled by them. 

Optophobia

a fear of opening your eyes!!!!

WELL??? HOW DID YOU DO????? If you are like me, you are patting yourself on the back and feeling pretty normal right now!! :0)

CAN FEAR BE GOOD????  Fear serves a purpose.  I think we can all agree that fear is a negative emotion, but, it actually can protect us and alert us to danger. If we weren't ever afraid of anything, we probably wouldn't survive very long.





 Worry is something totally different.   The author-physician, A.J. Cronin, analyzes worry as:  40% things that never happen,  30% things from the past that can't be changed, 12% health worries, 19% petty, miscellaneous worries, and only 8% are real, legitimate worries. 



Our bodies react to worry and fear the same way as our ancestors did.  We all remember the "fight or fright" syndrome that we learned about in Psych 101. When we encounter a frightening situation our body prepares to either fight or run.  A person's heart rate quickens, his muscles tense, his blood pressure speeds up, and senses are heightened.  These reactions helped our ancestors have the strength and energy to either fight or run away from a dangerous situation.  Today, our body still reacts to day to day trials problems and situations in the same way. Unfortunately though, people today don't "work off" these reactions by "fighting or flighting".  All of this translates into stress!!!

Dr. Patty recommends daily exercise for this very reason!! (and walking to the fridge does not count!!!  We have all read about the dangers of stress.) Later, I will devote another post on choosing exercise (or activity) that is right for you.

Let see what the Bible says about Fear, Stress & Worry.  (There are many, but I just picked a few.)

Godly fear is a good thing!!!

^{Hebrews 12:28} Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe  (To me, Godly awe sounds better than Godly fear, but it's pretty much the same thing.)

Romans 8:35-39  Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? ³⁶ As it is written:

   “For your sake we face death all day long;
   we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”^[a]

 ³⁷ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. ³⁸ For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,^[b] neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, ³⁹ neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

(We don’t even have to be afraid of death!)

 (Don’t worry, pray about everything. God will give you peace. Guard your hearts with the knowledge of God.  How? By studying the Bible.

Phil. 4:6-9

⁶ Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. ⁷ And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

 ⁸ Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. ⁹ Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

The Bible tells us not to worry about the little day to day things.  God will take care of us.  We need to put our trust in Him!

Matthew 6:28-3428“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.  Each day has enough trouble of its own.

What should we do??  Don't waste our time worrying about things we don't have control over.  I know......easier said than done!!  Meanwhile...........................
PRAY!

I will now end today's lengthy, heavy post with some pictures from Thursday and Friday!!!!

All teachers like "dress down day", we have them every Friday.  Today, was also Career Day.  My students thought I looked like a Gym teacher.

 



This was actually taken on Thursday.  The temps reached the high 40s and melted most of the snow.  We had a beautiful sunset.  By the time I turned my car around in the neighborhood to get this picture, the sun had almost gone all the way down.

One of my joys in life, reading with students.  If you look carefully at the picture, you can see that the pig is dressed up like Old McDonald and tricking the silly witch.  LoL!!

Well Friends, I hope you enjoy this post.  I probably worked harder on this one than I have on any to this day.  If you follow me on FB, you may have figured out that I lost most of it in "cyberspace" the other night!  At least it was a little easier the second time around.  I hope you have a great weekend and remember....................................Spring is just around the corner!!!

xoxo