When fear becomes central to your intellect, it may feel like your life revolves around one center. However, love conquers everything. Unfortunately, most of us forget that in the heat of things.
Fear can turn our lives into a place without happiness. Sometimes anxiety can creep in and go unrecognized until you’re entirely dilapidated.
According to Ruth Soukup, a blogger and author of Do it Scared, seven types of fear block you from reaching your ultimate goal. She refers to these fears as fear archetypes.
The fear archetypes include; ‘The Procrastinator’, ‘The Excuse Maker’, ‘The People Pleaser’, ‘The Pessimist’, ‘The Outcast’, ‘The Self Doubter’, and ‘The Rule Follower’.
To overcome your fear, acknowledge it and lay out a realistic and reliable plan to conquer it.
Choosing love over fear
This means choosing what makes you happy rather than considering what people will think or say about you. Choosing love or fear presents itself in almost every aspect of your daily life.
At some point, you’ve had to choose one thing over the other; a job, relationship, friends, school, hospital, food, or even a house. Unfortunately, love or fear often pushes you to choose one thing over the other.
Choosing love doesn’t mean the whole experience will be a walk in the park. Sometimes you’ll need to make painful sacrifices when fear is not an option. Maya Angelou once said, “if you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude.”
Changing your attitude is one of the most significant adjustments to overcome fear.
Begin with the end in mind
The second habit in Franklin Covey’s book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, is adopting a personal mission statement that will guide you to success. When you are passionate about something and set out to achieve it, your mindset is the greatest weapon in your journey. So, you need to train your mind to envision the result.
Naturally, the human brain responds positively to good situations compared to otherwise not-so-good moments. So putting your concentration on something you have great affection for will naturally gear your brain to achieve positive results for that particular project.
Focusing on love
Fear makes you a prisoner, always worried about things going wrong or not working out. Fear will creep in at some point, make you doubt your decisions and want to give up. However, love is the inspiration you will need to free yourself from self-doubt and fear.
On the other hand, it is also a protector. It’s the best armor protecting you from anger, jealousy, or any harm inflicted by fear.
While fear restricts your imaginative capabilities in what you can achieve, love and passion make you move forward. When fear whispers” no, you cannot,” love shouts “yes, you can!”
Ancient wisdom
Most ancient religious scriptures explain that fear is at the heart of suffering. For instance, the Bible, 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 says: “Love is patient and kind… love bears all things, believes, hopes, and endures all things. Love never ends.”
A Muslim passage from the Quran says, “And we will surely test you with something of fear and hunger and a loss of wealth and life and fruits, but give tidings to the patient.”
Buddhists also have mantras for transforming fear, loneliness, and suffering. They believe the most challenging yet rewarding practice is choosing love over fear. Unlike prayers directed to a deity, mantras are not required for anyone or anything. However, if done with concentration and with your body and mind as one, mantras can be a magic formula.
Choosing love is choosing freedom
Since time immemorial, this deep affection has been an emblem of coexistence and togetherness. And as Tolstoy said: “Love is a present activity only.”
Focusing on the present is an excellent way to overcome fear. You love what you have now; nothing about the future or the past. But easy as this may sound, it’s one of the most challenging things to do.
When “loving at the moment,” you let go of future anxieties and past failures. Next, give your loved ones your presence, recognition, and assurance, and lastly, ask for help when needed. On the surface, asking for help may seem self-concerned, but it takes courage to show your vulnerabilities.
As one of the most influential political philosophers of the twentieth century Hannah Arendt, wrote, “fearlessness is what love seeks.”
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