I would call "Defending Your Life" an important movie.  It was written and directed by Albert Brooks in 1991. In short, an advertising executive played by Albert Brooks dies in a car accident and wakes up in an afterlife where he must prove in a court-like setting that he successfully conquered fear while existing as a human on Earth.  If he succeeds, he goes “onward.” If not, he is sent back to Earth to inhabit a new persona and try again. In the movie, the recently deceased earthlings are called “little brains” by the residents of “Judgment City” because they only use three to five percent of their brains. And that three to five percent is consumed by fear.  It’s funny because it’s true.  This is what makes Brook’s movie brilliant.  The news media, politicians, true crime show producers etc. are trying to scare you into giving them your money, and in the case of social media, your attention and personal information.  The more susceptible you are to that fear the more of your life you’re wasting and the less of your brain you’re using to mindfully soak up your all-too-brief life. Albert Brook’s character, Daniel, has an attorney named Bob Diamond, played perfectly by the late, great, Rip Torn.  He tells Daniel the following about life on earth:
 
“Fear is like a giant fog. It sits on your brain and blocks everything—real feelings, true happiness, real joy. They can't get through that fog. But you lift it, and buddy, you're in for the ride of your life.”
 
I live by these words.  Or at least I try to.  To be clear, being fearless doesn’t mean putting yourself in
danger. Evel Knievel was fearless but he was also in traction half of his life.  Being fearless isn’t about not feeling fear, it’s about mitigating fear.  This is why I have the movie poster on the wall of my therapy room.  It might be off-putting at first to see the words “Judgment City” in your therapist’s office.  But I believe with every fiber of my being that all growth exists outside our comfort zone and that the biggest mistakes I’ve ever made in my life were fear based.  This is why the Men's Center Los Angeles retreat in 2010 where I walked on hot coalsl (and broken glass) walk were so important to me.  I had to, as the book title says, “Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway.” There’s a hilarious montage in the movie of decisions Daniel makes.  According to his attorney, “some are fear based, others just stupid.” It’s worth watching the movie simply for that minute alone.
 
 
I had the opportunity to meet Albert Brooks in 2011 and told him that I recommend his movie to clients, to which he promptly told me to "shut up."  I replied that I was serious and that if it were a book in the year zero it’d be a religion today and we’ll all be better off.  How much of our life is consumed with fear. How much time do we lose to worry?  How many opportunities do we miss?  How many lies do we tell and how much anger do we use to keep the things we’re afraid of away from us? If we all knew the afterlife was an evaluation of whether we lived life courageously and honestly without fear of judgment and rejection (both internal and external) wouldn’t this life on earth be a much better place?