Well, in my humble opinion, if you dismissed it, then you're closing your mind to an important truth.

We all have tempers - lord knows I do. And I'm DANG good at lashing out with words - I have elevated nearly to level of an art form. Am I proud of this? Nope. I fight it, daily.

Why? I mean, some folks deserve to get blasted with both barrells, right?

Well, words have power. (heard that before?) And other truth that goes with that is 'For every action there is an opposite and equal reaction'.

Let's take my words have power statement first. If you don't believe me, just think about these.

A stressed and frustrated mother to her child who has just stepped across her final 'line': "You are driving me crazy, how could you be so stupid?" The child's face falls, his self-esteem plummets and seed of him believing he's stupid is planted - or, reinforced.

A dad who's had a bit too much to drink to his daughter, "You're never going to amount to anything." At very least, a seed of self-perception is planted - and like weeds, they take hold and grow.

A high school freshman whispering to her friends, just loud enough for girl with glasses or acne to hear, "She is so ugly, aren't you glad you don't look like her, I mean, GROSS!" A seed - 'I'm ugly' - and something girl will never forget and have to fight inside of herself for years and maybe a lifetime.

A teacher to a student, "Great job! I can see you really worked hard on this project, you did awesome!" The kid stands a little straighter, tries to hold grin inside. A different kind of seed is planted.

What do you do when fear shows up? Do you hide under covers of life, shivering as you anxiously wait for moment to pass or do you stand up with a confident smile and embrace it?

Your answer to this simple question will have a considerable impact on level of freedom, excitement and empowerment you experience on a daily basis. Whatever your response, thing to remember is that your fears are nothing to be afraid of!

What is Fear?

The Oxford dictionary defines fear as “an unpleasant emotion caused by expectation of pain”. The thing to note here is that emotion of fear is caused by ‘expectation’ of pain rather than actual ‘experience’ of pain. There is no requirement that our fears be based on any form of rational or objective thought. In fact, it’s entirely possible that fears that exist in our lives are based purely on anticipated scenarios that may never actually transpire. The problem is however, that we live and act as if these scenarios are constantly replaying in our lives.

False Evidence that Appears Real.

One of my favourite definitions of fear is “False Evidence that Appears Real”. In today’s modern society we are conditioned to be fearful of just about everything. We fear failure, yet also fear success. We fear being lonely, yet fear being truly loved. We fear restrictions on our freedom to speak, yet we fear speaking out.

You are not Alone.

I think one of big things to consider about fear is that you are not alone. We all experience fear. It’s a very natural part of being human. It’s not fear itself that’s problem, it’s what we actually do with fear when it enters our lives. Channelled effectively, fear can be a great catalyst for change and a tool for reclaiming your personal power. At other extreme, avoiding fear will paralyse your life force.

Physical Symptoms of Fear.