I just finished reading Feel the Fear…And Do It Anyway by Susan Jeffers, PhD.  This book contains plenty of information on why we are afraid and strategies to confront those fears. The book leaves you with the knowledge that practically everyone has fears and most don’t know how to confront them or why they should.

Some of my favorite parts of the book include the following:

*When you feel afraid, it’s because I am not feelng good enough about myself:  I took this to mean that when I’m afraid, I have a lack of confidence.

*Anger is your clue that you are not taking responsibility for the situation:  I never thought of this in quite this way before.

*In saying “yes” lies the antidote to our fear – saying “yes” means to agree with those things that life hands us.  To say no is to remain a victim: This a a tough one but it goes to the saying “What we resist, persists”.  I believe this is means to go with the flow and practice acceptance.

*The key to being released from fear is knowing that you can lead a productive and meaningful life no matter what the external circumstances are.

*My “bad breaks” do not dominate my life; my indomitable strength does.

*What we resist, persists: We have to experience all our emotions, deal with them and put them behind us.  The more we refuse to deal with things, the more they persist and become larger.

*All you have to do to change the world is change the way you think about it.

*Underlying all our fears is a lack of trust in ourselves: I found this to be very true.  When I’m most afraid is when I doubt myself the most.

*Finding out what you don’t like in life is just as important as finding out what you do:  Absolutely true!  Once you know your dislikes, you can avoid them and focus on your strengths.

*Security is not having things, it’s handling things.

*You must shift from being afraid of making a mistake to being afraid of not making one.  If you are not afraid of making any mistakes, you are not learning and growing.

I would highly recommend this book.  Everyone has fears, but most of us lack a clear way to overcome them.  The most important theme that I took away from this book is that action leads to less fear. The more we act, the more we realize there’s not so much to fear!