Program offered on ‘How Not to Be Afraid’

“How Not to Be Afraid: Seven Ways to Live When Everything Seems Terrifying” is an online presentation being offered this Tuesday, June 21, from 7 to 8 p.m. by the First Presbyterian Union Church in Owego. The public is invited to this free program.

Join the zoom meeting at https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88499106722?pwd=NytqWnBUUXlwemJqU3dXRDFkdkpqdz09; Meeting ID: 884 9910 6722; Passcode: FPUC.

Are any of these fears ones that you can relate to or you know that family and friends have: Fear of Being Alone, Fear of Having Done Something That Can’t Be Fixed, Fear of a Meaningless Life, Fear of Not Having Enough, Fear That You’ll Be Broken Forever, Fear of the World, and Fear of Death?

The world seems terrifying. Whether your fear is about violence, shame, illness, money, meaning, or the collapse of certainty, you are not alone. Yet the power of the fear we feel depends on the story we tell about fear. Fight, flee, or freeze: are these are only options? 

Growing up near the troubled city of Belfast, Gareth Higgins was schooled in suspicion, mistrust, and paranoia. Would someone be lurking behind the door? Was there a bomb under that car? Yet fear feeds on the stories we tell ourselves, Higgins delves into the mechanisms of fear, as well as the quiet, immense strength of individuals and communities that refuse to let it reign.

Grounded in personal experience and expert reflection on violence, conflict transformation, and trauma recovery, Higgins traces vulnerability as strength to address seven common fears that plague each of us at some point in our lives. By examining such topics as the fear of being alone, the fear of not having enough, and the fear of violence and death, he invites readers into habits of hope rooted in Celtic spirituality and the mysteries of love.

A spiritual activist, Higgins points us toward tenderness, empathy, and gentle encounter with each other and with our deepest and most relentless fears. He shows us how we can replace our narratives of fear and cynicism with better stories. Peace is the way to itself, he reveals, and when we choose this path, our lives will never be the same.