Mindset Monday // The Problem With Fear

There are a lot of problems with fear. But, two of the worst are its ability to silence your intuition and to only allow you to see the downside. Fear is blinding to potential. And what do you see instead? All of the negatives. All of the worst case possibilities.

And when that becomes all you can see, the negatives and the worst case scenarios become familiar. You seek validation in the form of confirmation bias. Your validation turns your loose beliefs into facts. Your facts become evidence you use against yourself...

Hold on a second.

You've just talked yourself out of living your life. But, it's just fear. What would your life be if you were not fearful?

We have witnessed fear being used as a weapon and powerful influencer in this country, and around the world recently. The GOP political race is squarely based on America's fear of some internal minority, be it a religious group, race, gender, or LGBTQ status's rise to the top. The top of what, I'm not sure. The point is not political domination. It's acceptance, love, and equality. I digress...

Terrorists are using fear to keep people small, to make them angry, and to fill them with hate. And that is exactly the right weapon to use... fear. Because the only thing that comes of fear is all of those negative things. No one was ever scared into being more brave. No one can be threatened into loving others.

But love will make us brave.

This is my own parent's roadblock to a relationship with me. Among other issues, their fear of homosexuality. Or any community of people who identify as different from them, really. I'd love to ask them how they feel about the transgender community and what should be done about the bathrooms. For entertainment purposes. My mother has said to me repeatedly that "it's not natural" for me to love another woman. It feels completely natural to me. She tried to scare me out of being in this relationship by withholding her own. But my very natural love for my wife makes me brave. I can hear what my inner voice is telling me. I know what the right thing is. And that's to continue to live my life for me. Without them.

Seeing fear for what it is, the negative emotional energy that hangs around us, will allow us to at least try to clear the smoke from our eyes to see through it. I believe very deeply that all people have goodness in them, the ability to have a whole, happy heart. Fear is the only thing that can silence that inner intuition that tells you to do the right thing, be ethical, be helpful, be fair, and simply love with no limitations. Fear will turn off your inner voice.

And love will turn it back on.

Fear less. Love more.

#Mindset