Fear, Is it Holding you Hostage?

Is fear holding you back?
I'm not talking about phobias, like an unusual fear of spiders or of flying in a plane. What I would like to discuss this week is how our personal fears can prevent us from progressing in life. They can keep you from following your dreams and finding your true purpose in life. These are the fears based on how we perceive ourselves and how we think others view us.

An Example
I used to be paralyzed when it came to writing. I had an internal battle going on every time I sat down to compose a story, article or idea. Although I knew that I possessed all of the essential skills it took to be a writer, I would argue myself into a corner with phrases like, 'no one wants to read what you have to say,' 'there are so many writers out there, how can you possibly make a difference?' and, 'maybe no one will understand what you are trying to express.'

So, I stuck to a different field, and put the writing on a shelf for many years. My fear of not being understood or accepted kept me from pursuing a life-long dream. Because my writing was such a part of myself, I felt I couldn't afford to risk putting it out there for others to either accept or reject. What it came down to was a fear of sharing. I simply didn't have the self confidence to try because I was approaching it out of fear and not from my love of writing.

How did I get from there to here?
Although I didn't write for publication for many years, I continued to write in my journal. I used my journal writing as a freeing experience and also as a way to express my need to write. Then came the Internet.

I found email to be a similar forum to my journal writing. I began to forget who was on the other end and just expressed my feelings with abandonment. I enjoyed firing off passionate emails on just about any subject and I didn't really think about how they would be viewed. Emails turned into discussion groups and before long I was submitting writing for publication. I had recognized my fear and bit by bit replaced it with actions of love and enthusiasm.

Love or Fear?
"The human emotional spectrum can be broken down into two basic elements: love and fear. Anger, resentment and vengeance are expressions of fear, as are guilt, regret, embarrassment, shame, sorrow and jealousy. These are lower frequency currents of energy. They produce feelings of depletion, weakness, inability to cope and exhaustion. The highest-frequency current is love. It produces buoyancy, radiance, lightness and joy." (Gary Zukav, The Seat of the Soul)

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