Give Fear the Fingers

“Fear is the mind-killer.  Fear is the little death that brings total obliteration.  I will face my fear.  I will permit it to pass over me and through me.  And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.  Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.  Only I will remain.“ ~Bene Gesserit “Litany Against Fear,” from Frank Herbert’s Dune

Fear is the biggest roadblock in most of our lives.  We are afraid of failure, looking like an idiot, not knowing the right answer… it probably all started in first grade when we dared to raise our hand, the teacher called on us and we said something wrong and got laughed at by the entire class.  We’re afraid of trying new things, some of us are even afraid of success.  We spin our wheels, year after year, trying to overcome fear so that we can accomplish what we are really committed to in life.  We think that giving fear “the finger” means resisting the fear and ignoring the fear.

But we’ve got it all wrong.  Having fear isn’t actually the problem.  It’s that we allow ourselves to be stopped by it.  We think that fear is an immovable wall that we need to break down in order to get through to our dreams.  This is not the case.  The dialogue above is so right!  Fear is a mind-killer.  It robs of us our dreams; it blocks the view of what is possible for us in life. It is “the little death that brings total obliteration.”  If we succumb to fear in our lives, we are left with nothing.

How do we FACE fear?  That is the million-dollar question.  The lottery answer is to let it be; “permit it to pass over (you) and through (you.)  And when it has gone past, (you) will turn the inner eye to see its path.  Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.  Only (you) will remain.”  The fingers we need to give fear are peace fingers.  We must be at peace with it and allow it to be.

When you notice that you are scared or stopped, acknowledge the fear.  Breathe deeply.  Don’t react to it.  Notice the feelings and let them pass over you.  Make the conscious choice to keep moving, in spite of them.  Every feeling has a beginning and an end… the key is to make it to the end of it.  Once you do that, you are free to invent your life fully, with everything possible.