Favorite Inspiring Quotes
Fear
Commentary by Peter Shepherd

“What is needed, rather than running away or controlling or suppressing or any other resistance, is understanding fear; that means, watch it, learn about it, come directly into contact with it. We are to learn about fear, not how to escape from it.” ~ Jiddu Krishnamurti
When fear arises, we can be mindful and sit beside our frightened personality. We can transform the feeling of separation by introducing a new degree of awareness, acceptance and empathy. Fear then becomes a teacher and the lesson will be well understood and integrated.
“We become powerful in the face of our fears when we have a sense that we make a difference in this world. We are all meaningful participants in this Universe and worthy of giving and receiving love. Some affirmations of purpose are: I know that I count and I act as though I do. I spread warmth and love everywhere I go. I am a healing force in the Universe.” ~ Susan Jeffers
How would you describe your place in the universe?
“To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong.” ~ Joseph Chilton Pearce
We have to get it wrong, much of the time, to find out what works best. All part of the game.
“Once we have a firm practice of compassion our state of mind becomes stronger which leads to inner peace, giving rise to self-confidence, which reduces fear. This makes for constructive members of the community. Self-centeredness on the other hand leads to distance, suspicion, mistrust and loneliness, with unhappiness as the result.” ~ Dalai Lama
Compassion is an expression of unconditional love, our natural spiritual connectedness. There's no room in that state of being for fear to exist.
“You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing that you think you cannot do.” ~ Eleanor Roosevelt
Because we are caught in the belief that our inner state is at the mercy of external events, we usually try to manage stress by managing the world, to reduce the circumstances that we think are the cause of our stress. But this overlooks the crucial role that the mind plays in most stress reactions. In most cases it is not the situation itself that causes the stress but the way in which we perceive the situation. If I see the situation as a threat to what I want, to my sense of identity, to my expectations of the way things should be, then I may well make myself upset.
The fact that it is our perception of events that triggers our reactions suggests that we can have far more influence over our responses than we normally realize. By taking responsibility for our own inner processes we can put ourselves back in control, and so have a choice as to whether we upset ourselves over things that happen.
That does not mean that we should sit back and let the world walk over us. There may be many things we can do that will relieve the pressure we are under. What we do not want to do is make ourselves upset and possibly ill in the process. In fact we will probably respond with more insight, clear-headedness, better poise and more effectiveness, if our minds are not hampered by a response more appropriate to our evolutionary past. As you learn to work with yourself in this way, you are learning to deal with the source of all fear - the voice in your head that judges and interprets what it sees - and to leave the ego-mind behind. [From Transforming the Mind - free online book by Peter Shepherd]
Here’s some further reading on this theme...
Overcoming Fear and Healing Wounds ~ by Andrew Schneider
Ignoring the healing of our wounds makes us unconsciously demand attention and caring from others. It makes us dependent on others in so many ways for our own sense of self. Not facing our fears keeps us from making meaningful and loving connections with others. Fear says we are separate and we need to be defensive. It says that we cannot trust others and let them in. Fear blocks us from loving. Fear and love cannot occupy the same space. Fear is rooted in the personality, love within the soul. Continues...