PRINCIPLES
FOR PERSONAL GROWTH, CHANGE,
AND TRUE
SUCCESS IN OUR LIFE AND SERVICE TO
OTHERS
How
to become all we can be and live at peace in our
world.
Principle
8 - Successful living requires that we have the courage
and faith to take action in the presence of our
fears.
Remember fear
kills everything. Yes, it kills everything.
It kills hopes, aspirations, and dreams. It kills
relationships, confidence, and creativity. It can
kill our joy and rob us of our happiness. It can
even kill our health and take our life. “Scared
to death” is not just a figure of speech; it can become
a reality.
Think about what you might be able to achieve if you
were not afraid. What keeps us from so many of
the adventures that could change our lives? It’s
fear -- fear of failure, rejection, abandonment, loss,
and many others. There are many things that can
make us fearful, but true success and peace of mind
comes down to having the courage to take action in the
face of our fears. When we do, we will eventually
come to the place where even though we may not be
fearless, we are “fearing less.” You see, it all
comes down to courage.
But how do we do that? Courage grows when we know
that we are in a safe place. Our courage grows
when we know we are heard, loved, accepted, and not
alone. Our courage and confidence grows as we
take risks, overcome obstacles and achieve our
goals. Our courage increases when we live by
faith; the faith that there is a deep benevolence at
the core of the universe. Courage makes us
unstoppable when we know that even though our bodies
may be pierced and broken, that our souls can remain
untouched.
The thinker-educator, Parker Palmer, reminds us that we
will always have fears, but that we do not
have to become our fears. Thousands of years
ago, the poet of the ancient Psalms said, ”Even though
I go through the deepest darkness, I will fear no evil…
the Lord God is strength of my life, of whom shall I be
afraid.”
So as we seek growth, positive change, and true
success, we need
to remember that successful
living requires that we have the courage and faith to
take action in the presence of our
fears.