I believe that many of us spend our lives running wildly through an endless pitch black corridor desperately searching for a light switch.
The dark consists of all our fears. Suddenly we find a light switch and frantically turn it on. Light! Relief! Our fears are gone. We are happy. Whew!
But then the bulb dies, or the power fails, or worse -- someone turns the light switch off -- and oh no -- we are plunged into the unhappiness of fear again. If this happens, fear returns and hopelessness can follow.
If we stand in that darkness long enough and breathe, when we resist the panic of fear, we see a light shining from somewhere. We look around and realize that light is shining out of us!
And the longer we look at it, the brighter it becomes. That's our joy! You carry that joy with you 24/7, it's yours. You will never be in the dark again -- it's the ultimate fear eradicator.
As a little girl, for some reason I don't understand, I was afraid of the dark. I was particularly afraid of the 'scary monsters' that lived under my bed.
I let my fear become so overpowering that I gave into hopelessness and stayed in bed, too scared to move. It was always amazing to me that as soon as the light was turned on, the room was "safe" again.
Most of our fears are like that -- they dissolve when light is shone onto, or into, them. When all appears dark, we aren't always aware that we have just closed our eyes! We are not seeing the light shining from within us! Nor are we seeing true reality. We are only seeing our perceptions and judging them.
Unfortunately, it can seem easier to let fear rule the day and research indicates that some of us may have "fear loops" operating in our brains automatically. These then drive our patterns and habits. To change them we have to wake up and become conscious of them.
Just believing hope exists can increase it! Hope gives us courage, persistence, willpower, resilience, strength and joy. Hopelessness takes them away. How you choose to think makes all the difference.
Amanda Gore (www.amandagore.com) is an author, award-winning motivational speaker and joy facilitator! Her philosophy is that Joy is an Inside Job. Finding joy is the secret to more productive, creative, successful and happy humans -- at work and home. Amanda is also the director of The Joy Project. To book Amanda for your event click here or email admin@amandagore.com. Connect with Amanda on Facebook - Amanda Gore - Speaker page and The Joy Project page