Repressing fear can infect the subconscious mind. As you have seen, feeling always follows thinking. So fear comes after the thought "I'm afraid." So fear comes when you think about something you fear, or when you perceive something that causes your fear. If you choose to reject your fear, then what follows is what is called "repression". We suppress a lot of things, and sometimes it's necessary. We've been through so much that if we take it all in, we're overwhelmed. Fear can also be suppressed, but this can have negative consequences because it "infects" our subconscious mind. • Fear is triggered. • Fear is perceived. • Fear is suppressed. • Fear "infects" the subconscious. Now the fear is gone from your consciousness. But until that pent-up fear "reports" to you. This can happen psychologically or physically. You'll see later on. Depression may wear different masks, which I will introduce to you gradually in Chapter 2. A negative attitude toward fear is also a form of repression. Some of them we perceive, some of them we don't.