Fears are irrational beliefs about events, people, or circumstances that result in disturbing, or threatening thoughts. Our fears produce emotional blocks. Fears should not be confused with the natural, instinctive fear that we have which protects us from danger.

For remember, only "fools rush in where angels fear to tread." What I'm talking about here is the mindset that is fearful in a way that leads to ignorance, prejudice, and a will to violence. Being fearful means being "filled with fear". This is a far cry from the natural defensive instinct. .

Why are people fearful?

Just about all people who have low self-esteem are fearful. They might suffer from being afraid of:

• People
• Events
• Objects
• Places
• Undertaking risks
• The unknown
• Authority figures

Other people who may be fearful include those who have suffered from extensive abuse, those who have been through something traumatic, and those were were taught by some source to be fearful in their childhood.

Being fearful's negative consequences

1. Unable to make decisions. Making decisions requires committing yourself to some course of action. If you are afraid of what may happen to you, you risk missing out on the benefits of certain decisions, like the decision to let yourself fall in love with a certain person. Ironically, this fear-inspired inability to make decisions almost always causes us to make bad decisions that bring into our lives the very thing we are afraid of!


2. Inability to move on. If we experience something very painful or very traumatic, we often get it burned into our brains that we should give up and not go forward in life or with certain courses of action, because if we do we're doomed to just more suffering. But this can lead us to reliving the bad events over and over again in our minds, because part of us is trying to move on while part of us is holding back in fear. We are internally divided against our self.


3. Inability to make positive changes. Fear easily leads to negative attitudes. Negative attitudes don't allow positive changes to be made, for they get you to assume doom and gloom even before you take your first step on a positive course of action. But since you're preventing yourself from making positive changes, you just keep on suffering in your fear.


4. Procrastination. This is related to indecision. You make a committed decision to do something, but then you hesitate. What if it goes wrong? What if you fail? What if it's not perfect? These kinds of thoughts paralyze you.

How to overcome fears

1. Learn to handle irrational beliefs. You have to be honest with yourself to do this. What beliefs do you have that are wrong? Don't ever let yourself believe something just on emotion or just because somebody told you in childhood or in school that it's the right thing. Check into your own beliefs. · Use affirmations. Affirmations are techniques for sending a command from your conscious mind to your subconscious mind. You can use affirmations to change your internal computer program and overcome a fear or phobia. Check Fears and Phobias , hypnosis provides an extremely effective cure for these problems while teaching the mind a different way of responding to the feared object or situation.
2. Overcome insecurity . The best way to overcome Insecurity is to boldly act as if you don't have that insecurity. What would you do if you weren't afraid of the thing you're insecure about? For instance, if you weren't insecure about your attractiveness, how would you behave toward someone you find sexually attractive? Act that way! Over time, your subconscious mind will believe that you are attractive, for it will "see" the "evidence". But you also have to be prepared to deal with some setbacks or failures. We all have them, but when we're insecure we expect them every time, and therein lies the delusion and the suffering.
3. Handle Guilt. This might sound crazy, but guilt is an evil emotion that must be avoided at all times. Why? Because when you feel guilty, it's not your mistakes that you hate--it's your self.
4. Reduce Stress. If you're stressed out all the time, you've got to reduce that stress. Maybe you're stressed out from your own delusions and fears, or maybe it's your job or something else external. Whatever the case, you have to learn to be good to yourself. You do not "deserve" to be stressed out all the time. It is not "just how things are". Don't be afraid to be good to yourself and insist that you will reduce your stress load.
5. Accept change. The only constant in life is change. Yet, change may be what people are most afraid of in general. We can grow fearful if we decide that we want things to stay the same so that we don't have to put in the effort to take new risks or learn something new. Stop resisting change and instead see it as inevitable and the spice of life. This does not mean that all changes are good; some changes are bad. But to deal with those, first you must accept them, not be in denial about them.

Conclusion

You must not live your life for the things you're afraid of. You have to live to be good to yourself and that means living for your loves, not your fears. Face fate, don't flee it.

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