I collect quotes. One of my all time favorites is by Ghandi, it goes something like this;
‘Your beliefs become your thoughts,
Your thoughts become your words,
Your words become your actions,
Your actions shape your destiny.’
Where do our beliefs come from?
I believe it’s our experiences that shape our beliefs. And if those experiences create a sense of fear, our beliefs become fear based, our thoughts formed by fear and our choices of action fear driven.
Some fear based beliefs can prevent us from touching a hot burner on the stove or driving recklessly off the side of a bridge. This kind of fear is what I call a ‘friend’ fear. A friend fear prevents us from taking harmful, unnecessary risks.
But what happens when our fear based beliefs prevent us from taking actions that would otherwise help us to change our destiny? This kind of fear I call a ‘ foe’ fear.
How can we decipher if a belief is holding us back or moving us forward? Ask.
Becoming aware of what your fear is trying to tell you and making choices based on the usefulness of that information can allow you to decrease the ‘risk’ involved in the action.
For example, let’s say you want to propose a business idea to your boss. But your belief is your boss will reject or ridicule you so you never submit your ideas. Explore that sense of fear. What components of your plan do you believe your boss will object to? How can you redesign your plan to meet those objections? By restructuring your proposal using this new information, you are lowering your risk of rejection ergo lessoning the feeling of fear and using friend fear to your benefit.
By embracing our fears and learning from them, we change our beliefs, change the thoughts around our experiences and lessen the risks in taking action, allowing us to change our destiny.
By: Andee Frizzell
