Washing Off the Smell of Fear

Did you know that it’s possible to smell fear?

At least if you’re a dog.

It’s well known that a dog’s sense of smell is 10,000 - 100,000x stronger than human beings, making them wonderful for duck hunting or drug detection at the airport.

What’s less well known is that some dogs can actually smell human emotions. Studies have found that dogs can pick up on a distinct odor that we humans emit when we are afraid (they also notice when we’re happy).

Even though we can’t smell fear, we often sense it — not just in ourselves but in environments around us. It’s so invisible and yet so palpable.

Have you ever wondered, “Where does this fear come from?”

On one hand, it’s very explainable through our biology. We experience fear through our mind and then our body starts responding. Our amygdala (which is a small, almond shaped organ in the brain) triggers our nervous system, which then releases stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline.

As a result, our blood pressure rises, our breathing rate increases, and our blood flow even changes by releasing blood away from the heart and toward our limbs so that we can run or throw punches or do whatever it takes to get safe.

Oh, and it seems like we start stinking (in the way only dogs can detect).

In this sense we could say that fear is a natural process that’s part of how God wired us to protect ourselves from danger and threat.

It’s actually a good thing to experience fear — if you’re not sure, listen to this story about a woman whose amygdala calcified and left her unable to experience any kind of fear, even when in very dangerous situations.

So that’s the biological explanation. But, what actually triggers our fears? And is there anything we can do about it?

The simplest answer is that we are afraid when there is a threat — to ourselves or something we love.

• Walking in a dark alley in a big city threatens our physical well-being.

• Seeing a dip in the market threatens our financial security.

• Change — especially change we didn’t choose — threatens our comfort level.

• A biased youth coach threatens our child’s athletic potential.

• Receiving a cancer diagnosis threatens dozens of areas of life.

Is there anything we can do?

Two options seem readily available. First, we can try to just seclude ourselves from any conceivable threat by avoiding people and locking ourselves in. Second, we can stoically attempt to detach ourselves from loving anything that could be threatened.

Neither of these are realistic, sustainable, or good for us.

Here are some alternative steps:

1. Explore our fears. Rather than just trying to “stop it,” we can explore what our fears are telling us about what we’re attached to.

2. Evaluate our loves. If our fears are triggered by the things we love being threatened, it’s worth assessing our loves. We’ll likely discover that there might be some good things we love too much. This might invite us to seek to re-order our loves around what is actually most important.

3. Entrust ourselves to God. We can talk to God in prayer about our fears. The book of Psalms in the Bible is filled with people being honest about their fears and asking God to help them.

4. Enjoy the presence of God. Over and over in the Bible people are encouraged not to be afraid — in Genesis 46:2–4, Jeremiah 1:6–8, John 6:19–20, and Acts 18:9–10. In each of these passages, the reason to not be afraid is that God is with us. When we experience God’s big, loving, powerful presence, it shrinks our fears down to size.

5. Experience courageous community. If we’re surrounded by fearful people, their anxiety spreads to us. On the other hand, being part of a faith-filled community of courage can help us keep a better perspective.

There’s no doubt that life is often scary. But it doesn’t have to paralyze us.

We’re here to help, so if you need help doing any of the five steps mentioned above, just email us here l and we’ll serve you the best we can.

For a more in-depth Bible teaching on this idea, see the sermon Fighting Fear with Fear from Redemption Church Gateway.

Thanks for reading — I’m pulling for you!

Luke Simmons