LeadershipHQ Magazine June 2015 2nd Edition | Page 27

Choosing

over fear
by Kim Serafini, mindpt.com

Can you imagine how different your life would be if you
had no fear? I’m not talking about primal survival-based
fears such as the fear of heights or the pre-conscious
response to perceived physical danger. I’m talking about
emotional fear – or, the fear of what might go wrong.
Imagine if you had NO FEAR stopping you from achieving
your dreams. Imagine if you had NO FEAR of failure.
But we all have emotional fears, and we often let them
dictate the direction of our lives. Let’s take the example
of entrepreneurship, which is a classic example of
people stepping out of their comfort zones and taking
on unfamiliar challenges. A 2007 study on the effects of
fear on entrepreneurship conducted by Darlene Collins,
PhD of Capella University found that “fear generates
costly behavior that negatively affects the entrepreneur’s
performance, satisfaction and business success.” The
study also found that “fear of not having enough time” as
the most common fear.
If you have goals that are sitting in limbo waiting for you
to take action on them, then you are allowing fear to
dictate your life.
How can you transcend fear and live the most awesome
life?
First, recognize that fear is just an emotion. A powerful
one, but it is nothing more than a neurochemical reaction
to a thought. Fear itself holds no threat to you. Your
imagination paints a horrific picture, but you can manage
both the emotion and the imagination, for stellar results.
27 | © LeadershipHQ 2015

Instead of giving in to fear, choose love.
Just like the human eye can only perceive three primary
colors (yellow, blue and red) from which we create all other
colors that we can perceive, we also have two primary
emotions from which all others arise: fear and love.
Look at the emotions that arise from fear: hate, anger,
resentment, hurt, jealousy, guilt, anxiety, tension,
depression and the many shades of self-loathing (low selfesteem, low self-worth, etc.).
For example, guilt comes from fear of being found out
and the potential suffering you’ll experience from the
consequences of your actions; hate comes from fear
of people who are different than you, or fear of losing
something because of the actions of others - liberty, life,
identity or possessions. Jealousy comes from fearing loss.
Anxiety too, is based in fear of loss.
How are you feeling right now after reading these words?
Fear is a powerful constricting emotion. It’s dark, it’s heavy
and it doesn’t make you want to go out and do anything.
It makes you want to hide, or run away, or fight it: the
primal stress response.
By contrast, love gives birth to: happiness, joy, compassion,
empathy, gratitude, appreciation, delight, wonder,
ecstasy, enthusiasm, confidence, relaxation, humor,
generosity, optimism, security, safety, contentment… I
could go on and on. Can’t you just feel yourself expanding
and becoming happier as you read these words? Read
them again and feel the energy of love inside you grow!