I was watching the Hunger Games movies these last several weeks and one of the lines President Snow said really stuck out.  He was discussing the ways to keep the districts in line and someone had suggested increasing the fear.  While fear is important in showing the districts consequences it was the entity of HOPE that was the most dangerous for the districts to have.  With HOPE they dared to dream of a different way.  (obviously, I am paraphrasing the general idea here)

Couple that today with a message I heard regarding Carol Burnett’s daughter who had cancer (many years ago) always went to treatment smiling and happy.  When asked why, she said (again paraphrasing) we don’t get to choose what family we are born into or how other people treat us but we get to choose to live and love our life every day, regardless.  Sounds like hope to me.

So many people are paralyzed in their lives due to fear and more importantly lack of hope.  Perhaps also the perception of lack of choices.  Whether you see it or not, not moving forward and addressing your fear or staying in a hopeless state is your choice.  Which means you can CHOOSE to do something different- even if it seems impossible.

Let’s take a moment to walk thru six steps to help you move through your fear and hopefully open the door to hope.  READ ON…

  1. Identify the fear. What are you actually afraid of?  If you leave your job are you afraid you won’t be able to pay the bills, etc.  If you don’t like to fly, why?  Get specific on all the moving parts with this.
  2. Understand the fear. Work on dissecting this down to why this particular thing scares you.   You may need some help unpacking this.  One example regarding the finances,  perhaps you saw your mother struggle with finances and you have a deep fear of ending up the same way.
  3. Break it down and take small steps. Work on breaking down the fear into bite sizes pieces and slowly work on one small step at a time.  Perhaps carrying a hundred dollar bill in your wallet not to spend but just have may start giving you some reassurance that you have at least some money.  Work on identifying your finances – how much you have coming in, set up a budget, look at your savings to learn where your money is and what it is being wasted on.  An example, if someone is on a really tight budget they may not need an expensive coffee every single day and would benefit from making coffee at home.
  4. Visualize success. The small act of beginning to visualize another way is simply giving yourself the opportunity for hope to slip in the back door.  Turn off all the objections and all the negative self talk when you do this and just focus on the glorious happy end result of whatever you have been working on.
  5. Ask for help. Reaching for a professional psychologist/counselor can really help get to the root of the issue and offer valuable insight.
  6. Reward yourself. When you do break thru a fear based perception, reward yourself for having the courage to start that conversation and work on the fear REGARDLESS of the outcome.  Pat yourself on the back for allowing hope to step in and keep working on your issues.
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Many people get very anxious when working on fears so be sure and support yourself thru this process.  Exercise, meditation and relaxation techniques can go a long way.

Choose to make today and each day forward your best day.  You deserve it!

To your health,

 

Laura