Putting Fear in Its Place

As you move forward on your journey from where you are to where you want to be, you are going to have to confront some of your fears. Fear is a just a natural part of living.

Whenever you start a new project, take on a new venture, or put yourself out there, there’s usually some fear involved. Unfortunately, most people let fear stop them from taking the necessary steps to achieve their dreams.

Confronting your fears is a very necessary step in achieving success.

There is simply no other way.

Fear can be a helpful emotion, as it tells you when you need to be extra careful, keenly aware, and cautious. Fear is not an emotion that is telling you to stop. In fact, it’s telling you just the opposite!

Acknowledging your feelings of fear helps you know when you are stepping out of your comfort zone. It points your awareness to areas where you could improve and grow.

Successful people also feel fear. Yet they don’t let it get in the way of anything they want to do—or have to do. They understand that fear is something to be acknowledged, experienced, and taken along for the ride. They have learned, as author Susan Jeffers suggests in her must-read book, to “Feel the Fear and Do it Anyway®.”

Fear is more of a signal that we should stay alert and cautious. We can feel fear, but we can still move forward anyway.

Think of fear as a 2-year-old child who doesn’t want to go grocery shopping with you. Because you must buy groceries, you’ll just have to take the two year old with you. Fear is no different. In other words, acknowledge that fear exists but don’t let it keep you from doing important tasks.

Also realize that so many of our fears are self-created. We might frighten ourselves by fantasizing negative outcomes to any activity we might peruse or experience. Luckily, because we are the ones doing the fantasizing, we are also the ones who can stop the fear and bring ourselves into a state of clarity and peace by facing the actual facts, rather than giving in to our imaginations.

If a fear is too great for you to overcome, try breaking it down into smaller challenges.

Try starting out by doing the parts of the project that don’t scare you so much. You need to give a speech in front of a large group? Try giving your speech in front of a small group of people who care for you. Work your way up until you are able to feel the fear but still move forward. As you do you will build your confidence and eventually you won’t feel fear surrounding those issues because you’ll have done them enough to count it as a skill.

As you move toward your goal, don’t attach yourself so much to the outcomes.

Keep moving toward your dream doing everything you can to create what you want, then let it go and see what shows up. Sometimes the universe will have a better idea in mind for you and present a better opportunity when you were expecting something completely different. Don’t let fear keep you from moving forward. Even if the horrible outcome that you imagined happens, the universe will always provide for you another way to succeed. So be on the look out!

Trust that no matter what occurs, you are smart enough and strong enough to keep looking for, and attracting, opportunities.

If you are willing to try new experiences in spite of your fears, then more new experiences will present themselves for you to try. And the more you try, the more you are likely to succeed!

Article by Jack Canfield, America's #1 Success Coach, is founder of the billion-dollar book brand Chicken Soup for the Soul®and a leading authority on Peak Performance and Life Success. If you're ready to jump-start your life, make more money, and have more fun and joy in all that you do, get FREE success tips from Jack Canfield now at: www.FreeSuccessStrategies.com - See more at: http://jackcanfield.com/putting-fear-in-its-place/#sthash.RRIzj4bA.dpuf

Standing Tall in the Face of Loss

Loss has many different forms—the loss of a job, the break-up of a relationship, a divorce, or the huge one, the death of a loved one. It can be something we anticipate or it can come as a sideswipe. No matter what loss we are experiencing, the feelings and emotions surrounding it are real. We have the choice to let them swallow us whole, or surpass them and grow stronger.

When it comes to the loss of a job or material possessions, our attachment to these things can be very strong. We may have let ourselves become defined by these things. We have to remember, we are great and powerful sentient beings, we cannot be defined by objects. A great source on this is Eckhart Tolle. So often we have such a bond to the inanimate that we feel we cease to exist once they are taken away.

Maybe your concern isn’t so much the loss of the job, per se, but the reliable income—after all, we all have bills to pay. But as sentient beings, is there any reason we need to go without? The Universal Laws put into place assure us that our basic needs will always be taken care of. Think of the birds and other wildlife, they have shelter and food. Sometimes, they are fed by caring humans, but either way, they are provided for. Have faith and trust in the Universal Laws that you will also be taken care of.

We’ve also talked on this blog before about turning a negative situation into a positive one. Maybe now is your time to pursue a passion that will become the means by which you support yourself and/or your family. I’m a strong believer in things, such as job redirection or loss, being a gift. Not only will it give you time to re-examine your life’s course, but it will allow you pursue other means of making money you wouldn’t have before, or maybe you didn’t have the time before.

Other losses, such as the break-up of a relationship or divorce. Again, a striking blow and heartbreaking. For myself, I chose a different life course than my own flesh and blood. Due to this, they decided it's in their best interest not to communicate with me. It’s been a year since I’ve corresponded with my parents (even longer since I’ve seen them in person; and over a year since I communicated with two of my sisters) and, even though, this amount of time has passed, there are still many days I think of them, and am left shaking my head wondering why things have to be the way they are. But, here is the thing I circle back to—I have the right to be happy, I am happy. Despite all the heartache and pain, I am a stronger person. I have a clearer picture of who I am. None of this means I love them any less, but I also love myself!

Maybe, upon reflection and with the passing of time, you’ll also come to realize that the relationship break-up isn’t necessarily all negative. It’s possible that you were form-fitted, in other words, loved for being a certain way but not unconditionally. We all deserve to have people around us who love us for who we are, not what their picture is of us.  For myself, this painful time in my life inspired this blog, where not only I can heal but I can help others, even if it’s to let them know they are not alone. You might not want to begin a blog, but I highly recommend regular journalling and being with your thoughts and feelings.

This leaves us with the last loss mentioned above—death. This one makes me especially sick to my stomach. No one can ever be prepared for the loss of a loved one, even if that person has been fighting an illness or is older. Their memory will also be with you. It can haunt you. It can comfort you. The grieving cycle can continue for a long time. I believe it’s just important to be with your feelings—allow them. Don’t tamp them down with illogical reasoning such as I should be happy by now. No, everyone moves at a different pace. Listen to your heart and mind, be with your feelings, journal, don’t isolate yourself but reach out to others who are going through the same life experience.

I recently met a woman who I recognized as a special person within five minutes of talking to her. She worked full-time as a nurse and with that position faced a lot of death, but when her mother died suddenly she was devastated, and understandably so. What I admired in this woman is she didn’t shrink back from the world and drown in her grief, she stood tall. She came up with a business idea that would have her helping other grieving families by taking care of things that need to be attended to during such a difficult time. She offers to go in and make meals, tidy the house, pick up family members from the airport, and the list goes on. Now, it was her reason for creating this business that really touched me. She said that by doing this, she’s not only helping herself heal in the process but her true desire is to be there for other people and to help them. Wow. That is where true healing begins. When we give of ourselves to others, helping them, it comes back to us and the world is such a better place for it.

So next time you face a loss know that you can rise above it. It might take months or years, but you will and you can—if you choose to.

-- Carolyn Arnold

Experiencing Inner Peace Daily

There are obviously many factors that contribute to our inner peace.  However, one thing that takes from our experiencing inner peace is the hectic pace of our lives.  We can become overwhelmed with all the things we have to do, if we are not careful.  In doing so, we become anxious and stressed out. 

For me, I find summer and the height of the sun’s energy a catalyst that charges us up to go, go, go!  The things to do, look after and maintain are at an all time high.  Quite often from the time open our eyes our minds are focused on what to do today.  All day long we may go from one thing to another, thinking only about what is next. 

Stopping all of it for five, ten or even fifteen minutes may seem out of the question.  How about scheduling a little time to be first or even periodically throughout the day?  We are human beings after all!  Most of us might even argue we can’t find time for that.

A quote comes to mind:

“Whether you think you can, or you thing you can’t -- you’re right!” ~ Henry Ford

So why not think we can and schedule it into our day, as one of the most important items on the list?  Perhaps if we wake up and before doing anything else we sit in a special place where we will not be disturbed.  What if we sat there and breathed - breathed slowly and fully into our abdomen, up into our lungs, hold the breath, then slowly exhale, fully releasing all air from the lungs down, pressing belly button in as the last of the air is let go, hold there, then breathe in again...  Doing this for three or more times can make a world of difference!  Our eyes can be opened or closed, fully present to being in our body. 

Whether we breathe, watch, listen, feel the sensations of our body, or observe our thoughts floating by as clouds, it doesn’t matter.  Even doing this for as little as five minutes, we can experience inner peace -- the inner peace that comes from being in this moment!  This simple practice will take us from the state of doing to being.   Doing things from this place of being allows us to be in the moment, thereby doing things without anxiety and stress.  Experiencing inner peace daily benefits us greatly as we move through our day!

~ Sherry Buikema