Welcome to the happiness podcast. I'm Dr. Robert Puff. Fear can be such a powerful emotion that it can paralyze us, it can

create intense anxiety, It can cause stress.

But is this the only aspect of fear? Can we learn to be fearless in the face of fear. If we go way back in time, fear evolved in humans as a survival

skill. When humans were gatherers and hunters, they needed fear in order to survive

because there were very many dangers in the woods. If they weren't careful, if fear wasn't there, then when the

lying came by instead of running, taking off or fighting, which of fear would induce, they would just sit there placidly and they would be

killed. So fear developed as a technique for survival. And even today it's a good technique because fear can help keep us safe.

Many years ago when I was in graduate school I spent a summer in Lebanon and the Middle East. Well, during

this summer, Lebanon was in a civil war and many nations were there trying to keep the peace in Lebanon.

I was there with many other international students from around the world

to help paint a blind school and work with the blind students at this school.

But one day a friend of mine and I were walking on the streets and we ran into some French

soldiers and they told us that we needed to get back to our place very quickly because fighting had broken out on the streets.

And right after he told me this, his partner, who was right beside him, was shot and killed. So fear kicked in and we quickly headed

back to our place. But as we were going back, a bullet flew by my head and I could hear it. I didn't get hit but I could actually hear the bullet.

If fear hadn't been there, I might have been killed because instead of rapidly leaving and heading back to my place, I might have stayed, I have curiosity and watched, and that bullet that narrowly missed my head may have made contact. So fear can be a very healthy response to dangerous situations.

But it also can be incredibly crippling.

There's a disorder called agoraphobia.

These are people that initially started with often

social phobias.

They were afraid of being outdoors with other people in large groups. So they began to stay

home and they just didn't go out anymore and at one point not only did they not go out they couldn't go out because they're so

...