this post was submitted on 07 Sep 2025
50 points (100.0% liked)

askchapo

23217 readers
169 users here now

Ask Hexbear is the place to ask and answer ~~thought-provoking~~ questions.

Rules:

  1. Posts must ask a question.

  2. If the question asked is serious, answer seriously.

  3. Questions where you want to learn more about socialism are allowed, but questions in bad faith are not.

  4. Try !feedback@hexbear.net if you're having questions about regarding moderation, site policy, the site itself, development, volunteering or the mod team.

founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
PorkrollPosadist@hexbear.net
replaceable@hexbear.net
VILenin@hexbear.net
SexUnderSocialism@hexbear.net
khizuo@hexbear.net
Wakmrow@hexbear.net
50
How do you deal with fear? (hexbear.net)
submitted 5 months ago by GamersOfTheWorld@hexbear.net to c/askchapo@hexbear.net
31 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Most of the inaction I bear has been due to fear. Fear of reprimand and fear of violence in particular.

I'm reading a lot of lefty stuff (old posts, old articles, hoping I can make my way to books) and it seems like my biggest hurdle to becoming a proper leftist will be removing myself of these fears, if I ever want to do anything productive.

But fuck, fear is just so prevalent in my life. It could be my trauma, my privilege or literally anything else I'm not aware of. Whatever the cause, I don't like it, it's made me a worse person, and I wanna get rid of it.

Seeing as most of you are good about this, I want to hear about how you stopped letting fear and (social/physical) self-preservation control you.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] UmbraVivi@hexbear.net 4 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (2 children)

I don't understand mindfulness or meditation. I can't get it to work. What am I supposed to experience?

[–] calidris@hexbear.net 6 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

It's more a state of awareness and way of thinking than something you would experience (though the relaxation and calm may feel that way).

Ever had a long train of thought that kind of takes on a life of it's own? You think of one thing that reminds you of another thing which reminds you of another thing and so on?

Meditation helps build an awareness to all these thoughts, giving you more control (so to speak) of what your mind is focused on. You become aware of these runaway thoughts and are able to stop them before the chain begins. These thoughts often can influence your mood as well, so it helps with mood regulation.

This mental awareness can be applied elsewhere as well. Being acutely aware of the positioning and movement of your body. Being acutely aware of your surroundings. This, in turn, allows you to make corrective actions if necessary, or avoid being distracted.

That's what I've gotten out of it anyway. Hope this helps.

[–] robot_dog_with_gun@hexbear.net 1 points 5 months ago (1 children)

it's snake oil

[–] booty@hexbear.net 6 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Anything that didn't work for me personally must be fake

[–] robot_dog_with_gun@hexbear.net 1 points 5 months ago (1 children)

stretching works. antibiotics work (until resistance evolves), magical thinking doesn't. our understanding of the brain is quite poor and some portion of people will be helped by relaxing for a few minutes the same way having some water as a placebo will help some people who happened to be dehydrated.

[–] booty@hexbear.net 3 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Meditation is a well documented phenomenon which was independently discovered in various cultures across the world. It absolutely certainly works and is not magical thinking or snake oil.

[–] robot_dog_with_gun@hexbear.net 1 points 5 months ago

real things are testable that's how we figured out that "power pose" crap was bullshit. lumping together all those things from around the world with no rigor when the practices are different is ridiculous.

might as well cast a magic spell or take a nap.