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Crosscurrents

Getting behind the science of fear

Jaimal Yogis is the author of the bookThe Fear Project: What Our Most Primal Emotion Taught Me About Survival, Success, Surfing . . . and Love. In it he takes an experiential approach to getting over some of his own fears, by confronting them head on. He tells stories of swimming with sharks, forcing himself to do public presentations, and surfing giant waves. Along the way, he also spoke with researchers about the science behind our fears.

JAMAL YOGIS: We live at a time in history when we live longer, we live healthier, we live safer lives than any other time in history. Despite the way it feels when we turn on the news, those are just the facts. If you have a child today the chance it will live to 100 is much greater than at any time in human history. So in a lot of ways we live safer but we are feeling more and more scared. And so I thought I need to crack this case out of necessity for myself and maybe along the way I will be able to help other people.

You can read more of Yogis’ findings on fear in his book, The Fear Project, and at his website. What are your fears and what have you done to try and overcome them? Tell us on our Facebook page.

Crosscurrents