Excellent! Now is your time to grow!
In the great book, Autobiography of a Yogi, author, Paramahansa Yogananda was given much advice by his guru. One pearl of wisdom that stands out for me is to, “look fear in the face and it will cease to trouble you.” So many of us love to live in our comfort zone. We wake up, have our coffee, head to work, drop the kids off, come home, blah, blah, blah. At the same time, we complain about not living up to our potential. With a little push, we can change that. We can use our fear as a guide to help move through our blocks and create the life we know we can have. I read that book 20 years ago and that one quote has proven to be an excellent motto for my own growth.
There are so many opportunities to become better people, to increase our health, our relationships, our finances, our community and ultimately change the world. To change careers, to serve others, to do what scares us. Why? Because it is the way to continually evolve as humans and create a new normal. My previous norm used to be smoking cigarettes, drinking on the weekends and sitting around the TV watching sports. Not exactly the recipe for health, longevity and an amazing life.
Throughout history, the people who have moved the needle of society have always lived on the edge. And, there is no reason we can’t all live on our own edge, push our own envelope and create a better world as a result. Not all of us are creating new technology companies, winning Nobel prizes, or creating art to last through the ages. But, we are all equal beings and our impact is just as powerful in the lives of our children, helping out our elderly relatives, and contributing to our church or other affinity groups.
We are all leaders, it’s just time to take a stand. And all leaders take risks, it’s the only way to push the envelope.
Follow these top 6 ways to use fear as a tool for growth:
1. Meditate on your life, relationships, health, finances and career. Your intuition or inner voice will serve as a tool for you. If you listen, you’ll receive messages that will hint at your next action. It’s time to heed that voice more often.
2. Commit to moving toward that voice. Once you’ve identified your inner voice and you hear those next steps, you must commit to taking action regardless of what you’re going to think next. There is a purity to your intuition that sometimes gets lost after we deliberate about those thoughts. Many times we convince ourselves not to act. Avoid that.
3. Trust the process. Many of us look to control the outcome of situations, when the reality is that the only thing we can really control is our response. It’s time to surrender and let the process of life happen.
4. Act – If we don’t take action, we will never grow. Many of us remain gripped or paralyzed by fear. It halts us in our tracks and ruins our amazing life that is out there waiting for us!
5. Reflect on the experience. After you’ve gone through the exercise of listening, committing, trusting and acting on your intuition, you will build the confidence to do it again and again. This process becomes easier and easier. Soon you will understand that when you hear that inner voice, it is your job to move toward it and breakthrough!
6. Repeat steps 1-5. If we muster the guts to act in the face of fear once a month, each time with feel equally as difficult. This is like exercise, the more you do it, the more you begin to love it, the more it changes your life for the better!
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Follow me on Twitter! I’m happy to help you along the way @teddymcdonald
Photo Credit: flickr.com/JeffRowley
