Almost everyone knows Yoda, the great Jedi Master from Star Wars. One of Yoda’s quotes that feels like it was said for today’s world — especially for someone like me who has always struggled with fear and anxiety — is this: “Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering.”
In my opinion, fear, anxiety, and shame are the biggest barriers to growth.
In the Jedi Council scene, when Anakin was afraid, he didn’t admit his fear, but the Jedi could clearly sense it in his words and energy. That’s where this quote came from.
Now, in a world that’s changing at insane speed, we’re facing an explosion of information and endless demands. No matter how much we love planning our future, there’s always an unpredictable factor. All this uncertainty is exhausting for anyone.
And that’s without even mentioning life in the Middle East or Iran.
I think fear and anxiety are our first emotional responses to uncertainty — and that makes us extremely vulnerable. This vulnerability often turns into discomfort, anger, and even hate. Maybe that’s why so many of us have experienced depression or at least some of its symptoms.
Fear and anger once saved our lives in dangerous times. But now we live in a world where we don’t have to feel mortal danger every day. I believe emotions like fear are like a flashlight in the dark — we just need enough courage to walk through the scary part, face the shadow, and actually use that fear to our advantage instead of letting it control us.