From the Heart: Fear only builds your regret portfolio

By Anne Mukei

Fear is a part of most of our lives, there being numerous factors that threaten our existence. We fear poverty and unemployment; we fear ridicule and rejection; we fear disease and war; we fear bad leadership, we fear making bad choices; we fear loneliness and death; we fear fear itself.

Many people are afraid of speaking in meetings because they are curtailed by timidity, so they keep their brainy thoughts to themselves. We fear trying things because we are afraid of failing at what we want to attempt. Then there are those who fear marriage and/or parenthood because of the responsibilities that come with it.

Many of us fear falling in love because of the possibility of heartbreak that being emotionally involved with someone carries. Today many fear flying with the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines MH370 not far from their minds. They are also afraid because of the threat of terror attacks that has been in our midst for some time, and will not be seen in church or shopping in malls.

But did you know that the benefits of living fearlessly are more than those — if any — that fear brings?

To start with, fear hampers all kinds of progress. You simply will never know what the outcome of all the things you have feared to attempt would have been. That means that whenever you turn down an opportunity out of fear, you only build your regret portfolio. Is it not sad to look back and wish you had tried? Why not cast that fear away by taking those risks that will only make you a better person?

It must start in the mind. You could begin by feeling totally safe in the universe. Author Lyanla Vanzat said that at any given moment, we have the opportunity to choose love or fear: “In moments of fear, I remember the sun. It is always shining even though clouds may obscure it for a while. Like the sun, the one infinite power is eternally shining its light upon me, even though clouds of negative thinking may temporarily obscure it. I choose to remember the light. I feel secure in the light. And when the fears come, I choose to see them as passing clouds in the sky, and let them go on their way. I am not my fears.”

This may sound easier said than done. But it is doable. It takes the presumption that you are a winner. That you are fearless. That you fear nothing. It takes the belief that you will enjoy your days minus that disabling fear, for fear is for the spineless. And the faithless. For that reason, you will not be afraid of fear.

As human beings, we are given the spirit, not of fear, but of power and love and a sound mind. Why not claim it?