Everyone feels fear.  Without it, we would most likely not survive past childhood!  The fear response is extremely powerful and with good reason.  But, the truth is that today, most of our fears are emotional in nature.  They’re not the primal fears that are based on physical safety.  Instead, we have emotional fears like fear of rejection, failure, ridicule, bankruptcy, loss of a relationship, inability to perform some task, shame and the wrath of others.

I’m not saying we live in fear all the time.  And, sometimes fear is actually a great motivating force.  The problem arises when we become paralyzed by fear, when we stop being able to make decisions and relinquish our personal power to others.

Here’s a great tip for taking back your personal power so you can look fear in the face and still do what you want to do.  This is a great exercise to do:

1. Think about the thing that you are fearing.
2. Allow the fear to come up as a feeling. Focus all of your attention on the feeling. Let it pass.
3. Thank your fear for alerting you to a problem. What is the problem? Identify the problem.
4. Realize that you are IMAGINING the problem. It DOES NOT EXIST right now.  You are only painting a worst-case scenario in your imagination and allowing that awful scenario to determine your actions.
5. Choose to imagine a best-case scenario.  Allow this to be your new point of focus.  Imagine it from an “already achieved” perspective.
6. Now - which direction would you rather give your imagination: the one that makes you feel paralyzed, unworthy, stupid and small?  Or, the one that makes you feel like you can do it, if you try?
7. Let your imagination relax on the good scenario. Make this your point of focus now.

If you teach yourself to become empowered with a best-case “what if” scenario, you’ll be bolder and stronger.