Is Happiness The Absence Of Fear?
Eduardo Punset is one of the most read and loved thinkers in the world today. He left us a great legacy of wisdom. Today we are going to refer to one of his most revealing and interesting statements: the idea that happiness is the absence of fear. He added that “beauty is the absence of pain”.
Punset reflected on many of the realities of today’s world. Among them, this quest for happiness that involves so many people in the world.
Happiness is a very popular word, but it is also very difficult to define. This is, perhaps, the first difficulty we face when going after her: we don’t know what it is.
Some seek happiness in success or power ; others pursue it through great loves and tender affections; and there are also those who renounce happiness because they are fed up with deluding themselves when looking for it and not finding it.
When Eduardo Punset says that happiness is the absence of fear, he puts us in another perspective that is much more realistic and profound. Let’s see why.
happiness is internal
Certainly, we all know someone who demonstrates to be completely satisfied with what he is and what he has, even though he has already gone through great sufferings or needs and does not have what we usually call a “successful life”.
It is also very likely that we know someone who is the opposite: a person with success, power, possessions and loved ones who, however, is not happy.
As much as many insist that happiness is internal, we often forget this truth. We tend to do the opposite, that is, look for something external. We believe that by achieving this, we will find happiness.
This external something can be a love, a goal or a certain state of affairs. This is how we end up subject to a factor over which we often have little control. When we reach this goal, we may find that it does not offer us such complete happiness as we imagined.
When Punset says that happiness is the absence of fear, he also indicates two things: one, that happiness is within each one of us. Another is that it is not about having or getting something, but about stripping us of an emotion that oppresses us.
the absence of fear
Punset speaks of the absence of fear in a relative sense. Being afraid is not only normal, it’s also healthy.
It is the emotion that allows us to react to risks and dangers, giving us the opportunity to prepare for it. However, in trying to protect ourselves, we sometimes go too far.
This happens when we give a sense of risk or danger to something that actually poses no threat to us. Why does it happen? Usually due to the effects of an upbringing that made us think like that, although it could also be the result of some unresolved psychological conflict.
In any case, we are often overwhelmed by an accumulation of imaginary fears that overwhelm us and prevent us from being happy. It is even possible that, in the end, we are afraid of happiness and run away from it.
Out of fear, we end up imposing unnecessary restrictions, reject positive experiences, or harm ourselves.
End fear
Punset is quite right when he equates happiness with the absence of fear. Freeing ourselves from these imaginary fears allows us to experience life more freely. It also makes possible the expression of our being in its total plenitude, overcoming the rigid limits under which we voluntarily place ourselves for fear of going beyond.
Eduardo Punset says that if someone wants to be happy, they must first reflect on their fears. What are we afraid of? Why are we afraid of this? These are simple questions that, if you put yourself in a position of honesty with yourself, can offer surprising answers.
Sometimes they will even make you realize that there are fears that are not interesting to face.
The absence of fear brings with it an inner peace. Stop deciding your life in terms of imagined dangers and replace fear with trust. You will have a feeling of lightness that will help you to flow in all situations.
