There are plenty of quotes about fear. And a few acronyms too: FEAR standing for  False Expectations Appearing Real. Another version of this is False Evidence Appearing Real. More recently I heard a new one: Future-imagined Emotion Appearing Real.

Human beings are born with just two basic fears. One is the fear of loud noises. The other is the fear of falling. All other fears must be learned.

As I write this, I can feel the familiar telltale signs of fear in my body: My arms and legs feel heavy, my stomach feels tight, my throat constricted. All that, just because I am thinking and writing about fear!

Over the past week, the topic of fear has showed up in books and blogs I’ve read, in talks I have attended, in sessions with clients and in my own thoughts. Clearly the universe wants me to pay attention to where fear is showing up in my life. I have work to do.

This is how I will go about it.  Find a quiet spot, become still and ask myself some questions:

What is this wall you are hitting?
What are you fearful about?
What is fearful about that?
What is stopping you?
What is making you fearful?
When did you first feel this fear?
What is this fear stopping you from doing?
What will happen if you just do it?
What won’t happen if you do it?
What will happen if you don’t do it?
What will not happen if you don’t do it?

Well, that is quite a list of questions, it is likely to produce quite a list of fears and the process could keep me busy for a long time! So I’ll see if I can identify if there is one fear that underpins all the others and work on that one.

Now it’s your turn. Where is fear showing up in your life? Better still, work on the one that just popped into your head. Yes, THAT one!

Susan Jeffers wrote a book called ‘Feel the fear and do it Anyway’. It has been recommended to me a thousand times. I think it’s time I get my hands on a copy and I recommend you do to.

In the words of Dr Karl Menninger, ‘Fears are educated into us, and can, if we wish, be educated out.’ Better get going with that wish and the work – the world has need of courageous men and women.