Be Not Afraid
Leahcim Semaj, Ph.D. - Change Agent

Well, who are you going to believe? Jesus told us not to be afraid. Hollywood told us to "Be afraid, be very afraid" (Addams Family Values). I visited my favourite search engine, Google and typed in both phrases. The results are as follows:

• In 0.13 seconds we got 2.2 million hits for "be not afraid"
  
• In 0.15 seconds we got 1.8 million hits for "be very afraid"

The most common emotion I sense being expressed in Jamaica today is fear, compliments of the criminals and facilitated by the media. There are those who are too uninformed to experience the forces which are conspiring to breed fear into all of us. On the other hand there are those who understand the process by which fear is used as a controlling force. Who I am really sorry for are those who are sensitive enough to experience fear but not creative enough to get beyond it.

The Gift if Fear
Real fear is a brief signal intended as a servant of intuition. If this state is extended, it could prove quite destructive if extended and unanswered, but some people chose to stay here. It is possible that they have forgotten or may have never learned that unlike the emotion of sadness or happiness, either of which might last for a long time, true fear is merely a signal that sounds in the presence of danger. No other animal allows unwarranted fear to hold power over them. If you feel fear all the time then there is no signal reserved for the time it is really needed. Precaution is being constructive, but remaining in a constant state of fear is destructive.

Gavin De Becker gives us two rules about fear that if we accept them, can improve our use of fear. It will also be possible to reduce the frequency of fear and transform the way we experience life and the possibilities of Jamaica.

Rule #1. The very fact that you fear something is solid evidence that it is not happening. Fear summons a powerful predictive resource that tells us what might come next. It is by definition not happening now. Use this fact as good news to reassure your self. De Becker suggest that we should say, "Thank you God, for a signal I can act on."

Rule#2. What you fear is rarely what you think you fear - It is what you link to fear. Real fear occurs in the presence of danger or is linked to pain or death. Once the fear signal is triggered, the intuition makes the connection. Fear is a signal that something might happen. If it does not happen you should stop fearing it and start to respond to it or manage it, or give in and surrender to it.

Why Worry, When You Can Pray?
Do not confuse worry with fear. Worry is the fear that you manufacture - it is not real. You chose to worry about something because it provides you with some form of secondary reward. For example:

• Worry is a way to avoid change; when you worry, you don't do anything about the issue.
  
• Worry is a way to avoid admitting to your powerlessness because you feel as it you are doing something.
  
• Worry hurts more than helps. It interrupts clear thinking, wastes time, and eventually shortens your life.

To free yourself from the debilitating consequences of fear while still getting the gift, there are three goals to strive for:

1. When you feel fear, listen.
   
2. When you don't feel fear, don't manufacture it.
   
3. If you find yourself creating worry, explore and discover why.

Some Time Tested Thoughts to help overcome Fear

You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. Eleanor Roosevelt

The direst foe of courage is the fear itself, not the object of it, and the man who can overcome his own terror is a hero and more. - George MacDonald

Moral courage is a virtue of higher cast and nobler origin than physical. It springs from a consciousness of virtue and renders a man, in the pursuit or defence of right, superior to the fear of reproach, opposition, or contempt. - Samuel Goodrich

Courage isn't the absence of fear; it's the dealing with it. - Tex Randall

The way to develop self-confidence is to do the thing you fear. - William Jennings Bryan

It is better by noble boldness to run the risk of being subject to half the evils we anticipate than to remain in cowardly listlessness for fear of what might happen. - Herodotus

Fear less, hope more; whine less, breathe more; talk less, say more; love more, and all good things will be yours. - Swedish proverb

If you wish to travel far and fast, travel light. Take off all your
envies, jealousies, unforgiveness, selfishness, and fears. -- Glenn Clark

Fears are educated into us, and can if we wish, be educated out. - Karl Menniger

Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for thou art with me. - Psalms 23