Fear Factor: Ghosts, Politics, and Empowerment
Ever wonder why success doesn't always equal fulfillment? I'm Tim Salmons, and with 30 years experience as an actor and a career spanning work in the blue collar corporate medical field, as well as public service industries. I've seen and experienced the human condition at its best and worst. Here on powerful and unpolished, we will explore the everyday traps, draining our energy and hindering fulfillment. This isn't just another success podcast.
Tim:It's about breaking free from patterns that hold you back and limit your potential. Join me on this transformative journey as we explore and identify limiting traps, detach from draining patterns and rediscover the power within, creating a life that is truly powerful and unpolished.
Tim:Hello, everyone, and welcome to another episode of Powerful and Unpolished. I'm Tim Salmons. I'm your host. And we actually are exploring this topic today because of the season. Tomorrow is Halloween and so today's subject matter will be about fear.
Tim:Fear. Yeah, I chose this subject matter not only because of the season and tomorrow's Halloween, but next Tuesday is the election, the general election for the United States. And, you know, a lot of people are, like, getting bogged down and lost and caught up in a lot of energy and a lot of, lost and caught up in a lot of energy and a lot of, fear, if you will, that they've been swimming in for quite some time and they want to put a face or a name or something else on it because, you know, it's it's it validates the fear. So, yeah, we're gonna we're gonna play with this fear thing. I don't have a guest today.
Tim:Been traveling and and meeting with a lot of, other business owners, but it brings up a lot of opportunity when I come back from these trips because I've had some great conversations with great people out there in the world from many different walks of life and also to realize that even if they are different than me, I don't need to live in fear because of them or because of their beliefs. We have a tendency not only as a collective community, culture, world, and individuals to hyperinflate. Yeah, there's a small percentage of people out there that may have real, vicious intention towards you and or other human beings. A very minuscule percentage is probably out there in the world, Yet so many people walk every day as if that person is the number one person that is always walking beside them, behind them, following them, whatever the case may be. So in exploring these fears, we're going to have some fun with it, so maybe that's the unpolished aspect.
Tim:The powerfulness is consider the spectrum, consider the many different types of fear. You know, as I was doing some research on this topic, I discovered one section that talks about all these different kind of phobias. And, I mean, there is a phobia for literally everything. There you know, phobia afraid of water, phobia afraid of not having water, and the list goes on and goes on. So it's interesting in in realizing all those different fears that those are are prevalent.
Tim:I did come across some doctor's list that says the 5 types of fears, extinction or fear of annihilation, and I'm kind of going, yeah, that's like death and murder. So it's great that we have this dramatization of it. It's it's, oh, it's it's extinction. What if I'm extinct? It's like going, yeah, and I I don't want to die before my time.
Tim:I don't know that anybody else wants to die before their time, but, you know, there's that extinction factor. The next fear that they talked about in this was mutilation and that's very, you know, that's a legitimate that sounds like a very painful way to become extinct. And this, you know, as I'm going through this awareness, think of the think of the horror movies that you've seen over the years or maybe you don't get into horror movies very much, but this is some of the building blocks of those horror movies, obviously. One of the fears and this one I think is very valid is says that it's a loss of autonomy and, yeah, you know, a loss of your freedom, a loss of your independence, a loss of, you know, your belief in yourself and the ability to move around in the world as you would hope or like to do. That's a legitimate fear.
Tim:I don't know that people are running around and and enslaving us right now, but, you know, it would be very different. There there is a segment of our culture and our society out there, unfortunately, and very sad and very tragic, which is the human trafficking factor that's incredibly horrible and incredibly pathetic on the people who actually participate and entertain in that. And that is a cause that a lot of people are putting energy and effort into, exposing and and liberating those who have lost their autonomy in those situations. At the same time, it's not on every street corner, it's not in every house, it's not in every other house and some people really amplify that fear concept And it might be and and this is I sort of tied this into it might be because of this political BS that we have to go through every couple of years. We go through the general election, the big election every 4 years, and then we go through this political cycle every couple years, and it's it's people just really occupying as much space in your head and in your life as they possibly can.
Tim:And the reason why I brought up fear is because you're the gatekeeper. The individual out there listening to this, yeah, your fears can be very real, but they can also be self inflicted because you're the one that's opening up the concept, entertaining the possibility and not being objective or rational in where you are or who you are in this world. If if the world's always out to get you, then no amount of security that you put on your house will suffice that fear. I bring this up because we are the gatekeepers. We allow the stuff in.
Tim:We allow the politicians. And just so you know, I mean, I'm just gonna say it, I don't belong to either party, and the truth of the matter is is if you want me to be a part of one of your parties, I already see you as not being objective enough to have a conversation to discuss the other side, the other perspective. That's unfortunately that's kind of where it seems like it's gotten lately is is there's no longer any communication. So, the fear is that that is running and ruling this is people have gotten so righteous about their opinion that they stopped listening. They stopped participating.
Tim:They stopped engaging, and they stood in their righteousness of fear to stay paralyzed. They are the gatekeeper. If you're listening to this, you're the gatekeeper of the fear that lives in your world, that lives in your headspace, that lives in your life. You can blame that neighbor down the street or the one next door or the one across the street. They're just a reflection of what you are already creating in your life.
Tim:For the most part, you're you're gonna have people who wanna give you that 1% of, well, this happened to my brother or this happened to my cousin. Great. That happened to them. It didn't happen to you, and it doesn't justify you. Now all of a sudden, walking around like you can't think for yourself and can't be objective and can't explore what what's possible in a community, in a conversation, in a world where we can connect because that is always possible.
Tim:I mean, that's that's sort of the antidote to fear is is when we start to actually break down those illusions and engage and realize, wow. It wasn't as bad as I imagined it to be. But yet our human egos, our human, essence wants to hide out, wants to be live in this false sense of security. An acronym that's been used for for fear in the past that I've always appreciated is false evidence appearing real. Fear is false evidence appearing real, and people who live in fear get as much evidence, false evidence, to justify their continued state of fear.
Tim:So when I talk about, like, the political environment and stuff like this, it's like, you know, hey, if you wanna if you wanna lean more left or lean more right or whatever, you know, speaks to you, then by all means, do that. But if you were so righteous about one position that you cannot have a conversation with something completely opposite or other than what you believe, you have become the problem. You have become the fear gatekeeper. It may not be your intention. You may not even believe that what I'm saying is true, but if you had the strength to look in the mirror, you might find there's a little bit of truth somewhere in there.
Tim:Political groups, political parties, politicians, they tell you what you wanna hear, and they wanna tell you what's going to reinforce you to take action in their favor. It's not a hard formula to figure out, folks, and you can tell me about how everything's so bad and the worst that it is. Life is happening out there. The world is going to happen out there. You know, we talked about some of these these fears, the other fears, you know, and then there's all the phobias that have so many different, attachment to it.
Tim:I came across a list that talked about the 10 fears of 2023, and, you know, here's a list in a nutshell, which is the number one at 60 60.1% was, corrupt government officials. K? Yeah. They're definitely out there, but, yeah, they're the whole government is out to conspire. I don't think so.
Tim:And if that's what you think, you're just believing your own smoke. The other aspect is is so economic and financial collapse. It's valid. Yeah. It could happen.
Tim:Russia using nuclear weapons. Could happen. US becoming involved in another world war. Could happen. People becoming seriously ill, people dying, that I love dying, pollution of drinking water.
Tim:That one's a very valid one. I think that's probably more valid than a lot of these other ones, with the way we treat our planet, the way we treat each other. Yeah. The water, unfortunately, is being affected, but there's so many more in this list. And of all of these fears, I just wanna anchor this down into one thing, one simple thing.
Tim:I'm gonna talk like, I don't know, some actor, some famous actor, or something, but one simple thing. You have no control. Let's get really clear. If you're the gatekeeper, which you are, and the fear that lives in your space, lives in your headspace, lives in your heart space, lives in your entire body, lives in your anxiety, you are the gatekeeper. And, what is this fear anchored in?
Tim:You have no control. Little secret I'm gonna give you a little secret right now. Listen listen listen really good. You have no control. Part of the fear or part of the reason why the fear probably lives in your world, lives in your space, lives in your mind is because you keep feeding it false information as if you your opinion, your upsetness, your angst, your anxiety is going to make up for the control that you don't have because you don't have control anyway.
Tim:And a lot of the destruction and a lot of the continued fear and a lot of the political unrest that people unleash on each other is a weak and false exercise of trying to gain and fight for control. Man, that's a tiresome thing. You know, it it it is scary as hell, but it's scary as hell when you're the gatekeeper, and you're the one that keeps fueling this sphere. You're the one that keeps devaluing what you do have control over and giving so much energy to what you don't have control over. I don't know.
Tim:You know? Maybe there's a reason why we do vote a week or two after the Halloween holiday. We're already scared. We may as well just unleash that on the world. You know?
Tim:I know a lot of people don't like horror movies, but maybe if you watch more horror movies and and, you know, got scared more and freaked out and startled and then realized, oh, I'm okay. It's just a movie. Well, Even in politics, even in your votes, all you can do is focus on what you can do. You can talk to the people who are strong enough, who are intelligent enough to carry a conversation. I didn't say you have to agree.
Tim:I didn't say you have to come to consensus. You just have to talk and appreciate a fellow human being because, odds are, they have just as many fears as you do. They just show up differently, so you guys you guys could be fighting over the same thing. And it's all because of how you interpreted your fear, and they interpreted theirs. It could it could really be that simple.
Tim:And I'm not trying to diminish what this is, but, I mean, we've seen it time and time again in human history how people, when they actually do rise above, when they do move into objectivity, when they do move into consideration of somebody other than the fear that they keep pumping into their own life when they do exercise these stronger sense of human natural desire for well-being, they realize that that evil person across the street or next door maybe wasn't so bad. And then when the 1 or 2 or at most probably 3% of those horrible, vile pill people out there in the world that do occur, maybe they do live across the street, well, then that's only found out when that's the evidence of what it is. It's not you know, I mean, if we started treating people with a little consideration of where they're at rather than justifying our fear because odds are they're doing the same thing that you're doing. They're justifying their fear and cutting you off at the legs at the knees. You're justifying your fear and cutting them off at the knees.
Tim:And so you guys can't even come together to have a conversation. So that was just sort of the the the thing that that hit me was we're in the holiday season. Why do we celebrate being scared? Why do we give out candy or, you know, back in the day, they used to do tricks because it was trick or treat. Everybody wants treat now, but maybe that's the problem.
Tim:That's the problem. I think we just figured it out. The world stopped having tricks. It's all treats now. No.
Tim:So, just a little levity there but you know, it's we're all just trying to get along here and if you want someone else to listen to you, maybe maybe you need to be able to listen to them as well and you might have to be the bigger person to listen first. But what I would also say out of this is that's that's sort of in the political realm what I'd also say about just these everyday fears that we struggle and deal with. Remember you're the gatekeeper. Remember, the mass mass majority of your fears are false evidence appearing real. So if you're the gatekeeper and you're managing your anxiety, your insecurity, your fear, give yourself some grace, and give yourself some objectivity.
Tim:Not everything is the worst case scenario. In fact, most things are not the worst case scenario. The biggest fear right now that I which is why I wanted to share this subject today the biggest fear right now is that people aren't connecting, listening, or considering other people's human condition. That's what actually opens up the door for all the other things to become real, to allow bad things to happen because I'm justified in in lashing out because I'm afraid. No.
Tim:You're not. Especially, there's a lot of people out there that are of certain religions and belief systems that really do talk about, treating others as you'd like to be treated and, you know, examples of love and acceptance and appreciation. So for those folks, when you're living in fear, are you really practicing your belief system? Something to consider. Just wondering, I mean, if you believe in a religion that is about helping and considering and reaching out to others, but your primary operation mode of operation is fear, There seems to be a contradiction there, maybe.
Tim:It all depends on the individual. So but this is just something to consider. I just thought this was an interesting topic. I mean, with Halloween here and with, the election happening, I just say let's have more fun with fear and realizing that it is false evidence appearing real to us and that when once we realize it's false evidence appearing real to us, we can chill out a little bit and we can laugh at ourselves and we can laugh at the situation and maybe we can give a little consideration to the neighbors no matter where they live in the street, in the neighborhood, in the house. So for what it's worth, I hope you have a wonderful Halloween.
Tim:I hope you play. I hope you treat yourself well. I hope you have some good healthy fear and not controlling fear, and I wish you all the best as you go into this holiday season because we do come out of the the scary October, and we go into Thanksgiving. Maybe this is the time to start working towards that connection, not only with others but with ourselves beyond the gates that we keep. Until next time, I wish you all the best.
Tim:Much love to you out there in the world. If you found this useful and or insightful, or maybe this stimulated you to say he's crazy and doesn't know what he's talking about, that's cool too. But either way, if you did find it interesting or intriguing or or worth considering, please hit the like button, share this with a friend. Otherwise, I wish you all the best, and we will chat with you next time.
Tim:Thanks for joining me today. If you've resonated with any of the stories or insights shared today, don't forget to hit that subscribe button. Your support means the world, so feel free to share your thoughts using hashtag powerful and unpolished podcast. Until next time, stay powerful, stay unpolished.
