How to Stop Fear in its Tracks

Fear is one of the reasons that people don't get what they want in life. Fear paralyzes and keeps you from making decisions that could otherwise move you into a better position in life. Fear can create the exact image of what you don't want in your life and bring it right to your doorstep. Wouldn't it be nice to be able to make decisions and just live daily life without fear or the child of fear called worry?
Here are some steps to stop fear in its tracks so you can really begin to live the life that you want.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

1. Confirming Your Belief:
   
   People perceive their own reality in a way that will confirm their own belief system about life. If you believe that something is true, you will notice experiences in your life that will confirm and support that particular reality. So not only will you attract the outcome that you fear, you may also be completely unaware of all that happens in opposition to your own fearful view. Perhaps there is an answer contained somewhere within what at first appears to be in direct contrast to what you believe. If you are able to step away from fear and see beyond your fearful eyes, you will find there is a peaceful scenario awaiting you.

2. Some Forms of Fear are Important:
   
   Everyone has some kind of fear. We are human beings with a conscious mind that allows us to remember what our past is and look toward the future. We use fear to survive and to be safe. When our minds are in a survival state, fear will serve us well. You won't be jumping off the edge of a cliff, that is for sure. It is when fear grabs hold of your everyday life and you begin to focus more on fear than on living is when it changes from a protector to a liability.

3. Worry Can Lead to Fear:
   
   Let's just put it this say...worry is fear's child and if you worry enough you will graduate to this mother of all intense emotions.

4. Fears Come in all Shapes and Sizes:
   
   Fear can come from something you were told when you were a small child. It can come from hearing something on the television or by reading something on the internet. Fear may spring from your own thought patterns etched by a frightful past experience. Maybe Mom wanted you to be safe and made sure you knew over and over again that you should not touch the fire and now you have an unrealistic view of fire that has manifested into fear. Maybe someone wanted to gain control over you or an event and they put fear into you. You may feel, no matter what you do right, that you will be punished because of some fear of doing wrong. Fear comes in all shapes and sizes and you are not alone.

5. Emotional Attachment to Fears:
   
   Some have emotional attachment to fear. It can feel comfortable to think that you have it all figured out if it all goes wrong. Fear can hide other feelings that you are not dealing with. When you live in fear you are taking yourself out of the present moment and putting yourself in an imaginary future fraught with doom.

6. Name Your Fears:
   
   Grab a notebook and write down your fears. Many of our students list the small and the big. Some have reported that they fear no one will talk to them at work, that they won't have enough money, some have expressed fear of dying, or are afraid no one will like them. Many fear someone dear to them may leave their life, or of being embarrassed. So don't be shy or feel silly when writing down your fears.

7. Sort the Problems from Actual Fears:
   
   Let's start with this...fears are not real. Fear is an anticipated event that you imagine. If you wrote something down that is actually happening in the present, it is a problem not fear. A problem is something happening at this moment. Otherwise, it may be a condition of your life. For example, a condition of life is like the weather or a health problem but these are conditions, not 'fears'. So be sure to separate and remove problems or any conditions of life that may have ended up on your fear list.

8. Begin Resolve:
   
   Examine each fear individually. Take each one to the next level. Could what you fear actually happen? And if it did happen, what would you do next? Take the scenario all the way through and see where it leads you. Sometimes just exposing the fear and shedding light on it will cause it to lose its power over you.

9. Replace the Fear with Hope:
   
   When the fear is something that is repetitive, shift the logical mind from imagining the fear, to hope. You can just as easily find hope in any situation as you can fear. Imagine that fear is not allowed to exist in this situation. See where it takes you. You will find that the positive scenario will be the one that is full of hope. 'Catch' yourself in the fear thought and shift instead to the new scenario of hope. What ever you focus on the most will come into your world. Life is too short to be afraid, and fear truly is the thief of dreams.

Resources

• Beth and Lee McCain's Law of Attraction and Positive Thought Web Site

[MariM]

on 5/8/2009 Great tips on dealing with fears. I have a few.5*recmd

[glchan0]

on 4/28/2009 Great tips on getting rid of fear.

[chickenchick]

on 4/25/2009 2 Timothy 1:7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.FEAR is a SPIRIT! Not from God but we have the power to send it back where it came from. God has given us that power along with a sound mind. The Spirit that comes from God is LOVE as 2 Timothy 1:7 assures us. And Greater is He who is in us(The Holy Spirit if you have accepted Jesus the Christ as your savior) than he who is in the world. That's where Fear lives in the world. God's children are in the world but not of the world. The Bible is filled with hope, love, all the answers that we need to live by. Thank God!God Bless! With His Truth we can overcome anything!

[amymcclair]

on 4/23/2009 This is something we all struggle with. Great advice.

[Foxility]

on 4/23/2009 Fear is very powerfull... great article.