You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face…You must do the thing you think you cannot do.
~Eleanor Roosevelt~
Life offers us perpetual opportunities for growth and expansion, but in order to successfully journey forward along the path, we must face our own fears. In so doing, we learn, expand and step into our personal power. If we succumb to our fears, letting the big shadow it casts to loom over us, it will keep us stuck and darken our chances of meeting goals. While it can be challenging to honestly assess your fears and choose to take actions despite the doubting voices, growth often requires moving through a certain level of discomfort. If it were easy, everyone would be doing it all the time. Don’t let fears and doubts sabotage your chances of being happy, of fulfilling your heart’s desires and living up to your greatest potential. Here are eight steps to assist you in courageously facing your fears.
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1. Know Thy Fear: Take stock of the self-sabotaging fears and beliefs you hold onto. Are you afraid to fail? Try seeing failure as feedback to learn from. When you begin again, you can do so with a greater knowledge of what doesn’t work. Are you afraid of success? It takes courage to stand in our power
2. Stumbling Block or Service: What are your fears trying to communicate? Are they rational voices coming from your inner guidance system with something valid to communicate? Or, are they stumbling blocks holding you back? What are you getting out of them? Do they allow you to stay small and invisible, or encourage an illusion of safety?
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3. Gather Information: A lot of fears stem from the unknown, and lack of information. The inner (and, sometimes outer) voices can swirl into an overwhelming mess of shadowy scariness when left to their own devices. Shine the light of knowledge upon fears and watch them slink away.
Many of our fears are tissue-paper-thin, and a single courageous step would carry us clear through them. (Brendan Francis)
4. Action Choices: Make a commitment to yourself to proceed step-by-step towards the success of your dreams, knowing that you have it within yourself to accomplish your goals. Take action with clarity and courage. This does not always require huge bold leaps. As Lao Tzu says, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”
5. Presence: You are at your greatest power when you are fully in the present moment. By staying grounded in the now, you can better listen to internal guidance system, and also open ourselves to greater synchronicity along the way. Breathe, surrender to the moment and resist the desire to headtrip about the past or future. Trust that all unfolds as it’s supposed to.
6. Love: One cannot hold both fear and love simultaneously. When fears begin creeping their way back into your consciousness, choose love, instead. Chant. Sing. Dance. Laugh. All are great removers of fear.
He has not learned the lesson of life who does not every day surmount a fear. (Ralph Waldo Emerson)
7. Believe: You have unique gifts within you wishing to be expressed. The world needs your gifts, and you do have it within you to bring them forth. Don’t let fear keep you stuck. Believe in yourself and your ability to reach your greatest potential.
8. Hindsight: Imagine you’ve lived to a ripe old age, and are looking back upon your life. Which is more likely to occur? Will you be glad that you stayed in a safe lifestyle doing mundane work which never required you to stretch or grow? Or, will you be tremendously grateful you stepped through the self-imposed limiting belief systems and fears to live a joyful and meaningful life?
Love and Courage Blessings,
Antonia
Originally posted at http://soulatwork.com/
Find more from Antonia at http://www.hittingsend.com/
