We can choose to let fear be a noose around our neck, holding our breath through life. We can choose to hold onto what we believe we can control, saying no to experiences that may seem risky. We can choose to be satisfied, but less than passionate. Or we can choose to cut the cord.
This kind of "psychological courage" is essential to our health and happiness because it allows us to face up to our lives. To acknowledge and even confront the addictions and lies, fears and mistakes we make so that we can move into them and beyond them.
Life has its ups and downs, and it's not unusual that we should feel a need to be comforted when we are more aware of the downs. Because of past programming, though, too often our ways of comforting ourselves are less than ideal, especially in terms of our health.
Heck, I was born and raised in Pakistan. To some, that's reason enough to be afraid, but I accept that in a post 9/11 America, my country conjures up all kinds of misconceptions and contradictions. To be fair though, what country is without them?
In helping them navigate the wild world of dating, I hear their complaints, and there are many. Overwhelmingly, the biggest one from the guys is about who should pay on a date and also how to deal with people they take out who don't thank them or are seemingly ungrateful.
Each of us has clutter in our lives that holds us back from becoming who we want to be and achieving what we desire. What is holding you back? What can you start doing today to begin living simply, mindfully, and passionately?
One thing I've noticed is that fear is an all-too-common reason why my clients feel stuck in their lives and businesses -- fear of failure, success, judgement, making mistakes, putting themselves out there and becoming the person they know they're meant to be.
Early this spring, I came to my ancient great-aunt with news. She was perched in her chair, sitting cross-legged like a yogi, sipping Coca-Cola, and listening to her books on tape when I opened her screen door.
Have you ever felt like all of your body conversations are just flooded with other people's opinions? Like what diet you should be on, what cleanse worked for them, when to stop eating at night and what your waist size should be?
I will be watching and cheering for him and I hope he is able to live up to the high standards that many heroes preceding him have constructed by building the pedestal on which he has been placed.
We can't even solve what is going on inside ourselves with hate. In order to cultivate more love in the world, we need to cultivate it inside ourselves first... and we can't wait until everyone "out there" changes and behaves better.
The practice is to acknowledge our fear and embrace it rather than deny or run from it. To embrace our fear means we are making a conscious choice not to allow it to define who we are or what we can accomplish.
Taking yourself beyond your limits to reach new heights goes hand in hand with knowing your boundaries, having a vision and being honest about whether you're getting there. Leading yourself to new heights is an act of greatness.
For many people, going to the gym is a way of life, a necessity to feel good. They join a gym so they can stick with a routine. For others, though, they buy a membership, yet hardly ever go. Fear underlies this lack of follow-through.
Most blogs that people read on here are written by pundits or political analysts, but very few are written by people who scrub toilets for a living. I do. But I am also a mother, grandmother, and proud of the work I do.
Fear is something we can't live without; it is a feeling we all experience at one time or another in our daily lives. I think as a society, we live with fear in the wrong way, and after many years, I'm ready to share the story of how I turned fear into a source of inner strength.
I have known people who make "Before I Turn 30" to-do lists. From what I can gather, some people feel that they have not accomplished what they thought they would by the time they got to their 30s. Fair enough, but is a to-do list really necessary? I decided to find out.
I decided to dip my toe back into the water... and belly-flopped instead. I had set myself up to fail because I had set unreasonable expectations in place.
Sure, challenges are great for learning and personal growth, but what if you're trying to create in the moment and you haven't had time to process what you're going through? What if it's just too damn heavy to deal with creatively? That's what I've been grappling with.
If about 85 percent of the people you meet like you, you are probably doing something right. In contrast, if much more than 85 percent of the people you meet like you, you are probably doing too much to get along.
