| Fear Is Our Greatest Enemy Many of us have lived with fear most of our lives. Some of us overcome it, others succumb to it, and still others get lost in it. With so much help available, one might wonder why fear would bring anyone down but if you have ever felt true fear, then you know how crippling it can be! All consuming. I personally have experienced too many forms of fear. My heart cries out sadly to those who cannot escape their own. I have been there and still I taste the bitterness of the past. Fear has a definite smell to it and you can learn to smell it before it reaches you. The first step in overcoming fear is to recognize what it is and when it comes to visit most often. We start this young. We are afraid people won't like us so we allow ourselves to be drawn in to "things" we wouldn't normally do to bring friends around. Saying no is a great way to fend off fear, but what if it's not enough? What if that leads to fear that we won't be safe? One fear often leads to another, sometimes escalating into something we find we cannot control. But we can learn to gain control. Gaining control in our lives is easier than some of us care to believe. We've been brought up believing that if it didn't take blood, sweat and tears, it wasn't worth having. That's not entirely true though. Over coming fear doesn't have to be a gruesome conflict at all! The first step is to gain control over your own body. We react like we have been taught to react growing up! Touch fire, you get burned, ice is cold, strangers are dangerous, candy is bad, veggies are good, etc. While some of those are excellent advice, most of them leave room for interpretation. What do we use as a focus point? The knowledge we were taught verbally or knowledge gained by our own blood, sweat and tears? We tend to believe what we can prove easily. We believe that fear is crippling and so it is to many. What we don't realize is that our brains are powerful enough to overcome fear! We just need to make them do what we want them to do and not just what has been bred into them. We need to send our brains back to school. We can start with something that is seemingly unrelated: Breathing exercises. During the day, we are so busy that we often forget to breathe and release stress and frustration. Our brains remember everything so we carry it home at night as well. Then, we wonder why can't we sleep? Wonder why we can't eat or have heartburn and indigestion as well as high blood pressure and other stress related health problems. Try this: Relax your body and just count your breaths. Don't think of anything except counting your breath. Such a simple thing. Try to do this for maybe 5 to 10 minutes. How many times did your mind wander off the course? Was it a battle to bring the focus back? The mind is a tough muscle to control, but we can do it! Find a friend that you trust and learn meditation with them. I will add a few links to other pages with relaxation and meditative examples. Try them for just three months faithfully, and see how much control you gain over yourself. Sometimes you might want to focus on a "problem" or a "fear" that is bothering you when you are in this relaxed state of mind. You'd be surprised how many problems we can solve when we put our minds to them. There will be plenty of time to think about the "stressful" details later, just keep your focus on your breathing. After you have mastered this technique, move on to some more complex meditations and see just how much fun and how beneficial meditation can be. Snuggs from MoonBeam Live in Love - Fail to Fear |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
