My War Against Fear: What The Risk Of Death Has Taught Me About Life

Veteran war correspondent tells his experiences on the front and draws conclusions about his relationship with fear. Based on his own experiences, he proposes seven steps on how to deal with this dominant force of our society, which paralyzes us in situations that make us unhappy, and makes us flee when we should persist. The reporter details his experiences in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Georgia / South Ossetia, Libya, Syria, Turkey, Iran, Haiti and North Korea, explaining historical, political, economic, social and cultural contexts. His observations on the workings of courage and fear are based on this experience, which has a huge impact on the reader.Detailed descriptions of places and situations carry us to these distant countries, which become instantly familiar, because of the reporter's interest in the human condition, which is universal. Even with such rich and engaging narratives, the book is organized so that the author's proposal for dealing with fear is clear and easy to assimilate. Each chapter is dedicated to one of the seven steps, and they are intertwined in a sequence that makes sense, and flows naturally along with the stories being told. The result is a balanced combination of extraordinary experiences, reflections on the human condition and a concrete plan to deal with the feeling that sickens our civilization.Even in war, the situations in which we have to react instinctively to an imminent threat are not continuous. Even less in our daily lives, whether in personal relationships, at work or on the street. "My war against fear" teaches that instinct is a good tool only in the face of imminent threats. In almost all our lifetime, we can resort to our experiences and our reason to respond in an elaborate way, to decide between staying and leaving, insisting and giving up. If we live as if we were in a permanent emergency, then we are sickened by anxiety and anguish, plunged into our fantasies, which are the leaven of fear.The guiding thread of the book is what we can do to get out of our subjective world, to focus on reality, other people and the present moment. Although the whole proposal is based on observation, in the author's experiences, the book's Conclusion shows that neuroscience has gone in the same direction as his empirical findings. In the Foreword, Dr. Fabiano Moulin de Moraes, a specialist in Neurology of Behavior and Cognition at the Federal University of São Paulo, states: "Lourival, as a modern neuroscientist, teaches us that emotions need to be recognized, assimilated with all their wisdom and then used to guide us in life and not to imprison us in the comfort zone or in the war zone.These are not orders but suggestions.These are not a fact but a construction.These are the skills we call emotional intelligence. It is not to deny, to judge or ignore, but to make it a fuel for a healthier construction and synchrony with oneself and the world. The more we are present and attentive to our emotions, the more we try to construct a new concept from them, the more we become masters of life, the more the fear ceases to be terror or horror, the more it becomes an ally in balance inside and outside of us.This book inspires us to fight for and not against ourselves! "The extreme situations, the risk of death, provided the author with the raw material for this construction.

Author: Lourival Sant'anna

Publisher: Independently Published

Publication Date: Nov 29, 2019

Number of Pages: 228 pages

Language: English

Binding: Paperback

ISBN-10: 1090712103

ISBN-13: 9781090712103