Embrace your fears and realize true courage
Most of us are afraid of something in life, be it real and serious, like heights, or small and seemingly trivial, like spiders. Yet we all have the capacity to take the fears, whatever they are, and through embracing them, realize and demonstrate the courage that lies beneath.
I must admit that I am addicted to the “Amazing Race” television show that pits 12 couples against each other in a worldwide race to the finish line for a $1 million prize. During the race, the couples are called upon to complete tasks in order to earn clues to the next station in the race. In last night’s program, contestants were told to choose between a donkey cart for transportation on the ground and a skydiving adventure that would guarantee a speedier arrival at the next clue.
Two of the contestants, Heather and Eve, are law students and roommates who are racing together. Because they were toward the back of the competing pack, Eve persuaded Heather to sky dive after their donkey cart fell apart in transit. Heather was clearly terrified at the prospect and burst into tears, shaking and sobbing. Even in the plane poised at the door and strapped to a professional skydiver, she doubted she could do it, but was determined not to give up. Crying and with closed eyes, she and her partner jumped from the plane into free fall. After a perfect landing, she was still crying, but this time there were tears of relief and joy that she had faced the biggest fear in her life and conquered it!
Cowardice is being afraid to act and allowing that fear to overwhelm you, paralyzing you. Courage is having fear and acting in spite of that fear, working through the fear. That is what made Heather’s feat on the “Amazing Race” last night so remarkable. She experienced real fear. No one watching her had any doubt that she was gripped by overwhelming terror. Yet, she moved through the fear and despite it, acted and in the process, revealed her true courage to the world. I guarantee you that this young woman will never be stopped by anything in life. She faced her worst fear and conquered it. She will make an amazing attorney!
There is a song on Josh Groban’s debut album that puts into words my feelings about fear and courage and life in general. The song is “Let Me Fall” from Circque du Soleil, written by James Corcoran and Jutras Benoit.
“Let me fall; let me climb. There’s a moment when fear and dream must collide. Someone I am is waiting for courage; the one I want, the one I will become will catch me. So let me fall, if I must fall. I won’t heed your warnings. I won’t hear them. Let me fall. If I fall, all the feelings, they all may not rise. I will bounce so freely holding onto to no one. You can hold me only if you, too, will fall away from all these useless fears and chains. Someone I am is waiting for my courage; the one I want, the one I will become will catch me. So let me fall, if I must fall. I won’t heed your warning. I won’t hear. There’s no reason to miss this one chance, this perfect moment. Just let me fall.”
This song speaks to us about courage and the need to face our fears. No matter what we fear in life, or what others tell us we need to fear, we have the free will and the responsibility to step forward. We must heed the call of our souls to be adventurous and be unwilling to settle for second best when we can have all the success, health, love, and abundance that we can envision.
“What the mind can conceive, we can achieve.” We have all heard this, but have we heeded the message that it gives us? Are you in less than perfect health? Do have a job in which your talents and skills are under utilized or under appreciated? Do you feel the need for more love in your life? More success? More abundance? In most cases, the only thing that stands between you and success is yourself, your doubts, and your fears.
The conscious mind has been likened to a computer. You know the saying, “garbage in, garbage out”? The truth is that the mind, like a computer, only knows what it is told. What have you told your conscious mind lately? Are you still running and listening to the old tapes and programs from your childhood? The ones that say you aren’t pretty enough, not smart enough, not educated enough, or not as good as …(insert any name here). As long as you are paying attention to the self-doubts and the beliefs of those who are struggling to make it in life just like you, you are cutting off your ability to listen to Spirit and your own inner knowledge about what’s right for you.
How can you open to that inner knowledge and demonstrate the courage to live your life in the fullness of health, love, joy and abundance, as God intends for you? How can you break the habit of giving in to the fears of living that deprive you of the joys of life as it is meant to be lived? Here are some suggestions.
- Sit in the silence. If you have not yet developed the habit of daily meditation, now is a good time to begin. Meditation does not have to be a formalized sitting in the lotus position kind of thing. There are many ways to lead your focus inward and temporarily shut out the outside world. Runners often reach a meditative state in the repetitive act of maintaining stride. Gardening is another way to release your conscious concerns and allow your spirit to speak. Even a task as mundane as washing dishes can let you reach an altered state in which to open to your inner knowledge and spiritual guidance. Some people enter an altered state while driving home from work in the evening. So much so that they do not recall any details of the trip and are surprised to find themselves arriving home. I do not recommend this at all. Please focus on the now when driving. As a fellow road traveler in this town, I greatly appreciate alert and focused drivers!
- Journal regularly. In the act of writing in a private journal, you allow an opening to your own soul. By writing regularly and then re-reading every week or so, you will begin to see emerging patterns in the things you write and you will begin to discover new aspects of your inner being that you may not have known existed. You mat discover hopes and dreams that you had forgotten about or aspirations that have just been created and are waiting to blossom. How can you tell the difference between real guidance and your ego running amok? True guidance is always healing, loving, simple, inspirational and clear. Guidance brings joy, encourages forgiveness, creates comfort and a win/win situation. Ego, on the other hand, avoids healing, love, forgiveness, creates doubts and difficulty, creates fears and anguish and is scattered rather than focused. True guidance never tells you what to do; it rather helps you see your options.
- Look at your dreams. If time and money were no object and you had no responsibilities for anyone other than yourself, what would you be doing? Would you be working on the great American novel, skiing in Colorado, deep-sea fishing, or learning to play the piano or sing opera? In other words, what would make your heart sing? Write it down. Spend some time brainstorming and writing the first things that come into your mind. Do not judge anything you write, just list everything that comes. Do this for about 15 minutes. then look at the list and begin narrowing down the possibilities. Odds are, you won’t want to leave “professional football player” on the list if you are a middle aged couch potato, but you may yearn deep down for a chance to fulfill your childhood dream of playing the piano or learning to paint with water colors.
- Make a list of those that really catch your eye and think about what your soul is trying to tell you. Why haven’t you picked up that paintbrush, or taken the voice lesson, or finished the novel packed away in the closet? What are you afraid will happen if you admit to these dreams? What is the worst than can happen? Do you fear you will fail, or are you really afraid of success? Are you afraid of ridicule or rejection? Are you afraid that people will not understand the real you, or do you fear that they will see the real you shining through?
Fear is a funny thing. On the one hand, it can protect us from doing foolish things, like walking off a cliff, or climbing Mount Everest without proper preparation, or volunteering to appear on Fear Factor as a contestant. Fear can also paralyze us and keep us from realizing our dreams and fulfilling our destinies, if we allow it. You can accomplish whatever your heart and soul desire for you. You can succeed where others may fail. You may be the first to market a water fueled automobile, or develop the ultimate cure for cancer, or become the next Grandma Moses of the painting world, or learn to Scuba dive at age seventy, or dance in a Broadway show, or sell your first novel. How can you know what you are capable of doing if you never try? How can you reach the stars if you never step off the ground? How can you soar with eagles if you keep listening to the turkeys that want to keep you grounded with them?
Take the first step. Don’t be afraid to take a risk. Remember Heather on the “Amazing Race” and know that you, too, can face your fears and work through them. You can accomplish whatever you set your mind to do. You can achieve anything that you can imagine.
Now, get off that chair and get to work! Listen to your heart and soul and get the lead out!
Yes, I teach what I am learning. Love and Light to you all.
