F or last week’s column I received many messages of appreciation. I need to say this — the appreciation wasn’t deserved. That’s because I seemed to have made the war against your fears appear easier than it actually is. I went through my column again and got the impression that by merely reading it I had done half the job.

Okay, you did a fear audit on yourself. You wrote a list of all the things that made you afraid, made you worry and kept you awake at nights. What next? You need to get a new pair of eyes that can see things your regular eyes can’t. Intuitive eyes that notice subtle stuff — like how most of your everyday actions and decisions are ordered by your hidden fears. It’s not hard to get them.

Of all human emotions, fear is the most devious, most powerful. Once you get traumatised, fear acquires a power to twist your mind into acting in strange ways for the rest of your life.

You have a right to fully savour your present moment and no one can take that right away from you. That is your first and fundamental spiritual freedom — sacred and precious. Why precious?

“I suddenly realise that I am all fake inside. I realise I am eternally afraid.” — a 40-year-old confesses.

I want my words to be like missiles — bang on target. How do I become a good communicator? —
Swarup, 19.

Help. My kid is a soft drink and chips addict
— An anguished mother

What’s the secret of youthfulness? I am 51 years...
— Anonymous reader

I get upset by rash and rebellious teenagers. Why can’t they behave properly?”
– Harish. 52 years.

“I feel so mentally worn out all the time… age is catching up.” Yogesh, 52 years.
The “mentally worn out” feeling isn’t age-related, brother. It’s habit-related. All of us, to a greater or lesser degree, repetitively perform the same tasks in the same manner day after day until a point arrives when we do it so mechanically that our brain is switched off and we are not aware that we did it or are doing it.