Fear As A Flagship For Opportunity

by Lani Muelrath, M.A., the Fitness DreamMaker

Fear as an opportunity to be fearless?

Years ago when escaping the grips of a "diet" lifestyle, one of the first and most important - make that transforming - things I learned - was to make hunger my friend.

I know it sounds wild, perhaps even counter-intuitive! For isn't hunger the foe of someone trying to control their weight? Nope. It is your friend because of the information that it brings you, and the peace talk it presents when one is giving up being at war with their body.  (Don't get me started!  More about that another time….)

How far a stretch can it thus be to take a new look at fear, and transform this seeming foe to friend?

Fear grips us when we perceive something from outside the norm is about to cross our paths.  This is an important survival instinct as it can protect us from danger.  Yet in many cases, as a matter of fact more often than not, it is a supposed or imagined fear - or conditioned response from a previously negative experience.  This may or may NOT be directly pertinent, actually, to the present. Yet it still fires up our adrenalin, jerks our knees, and keeps us stuck.

There is a definite physicality to the fear response - the resulting biochemistry alerts us so that there is no question that somewhere there is danger.

Today, I invite you to look at fear responses in a new light.  If the threat of physical danger is not really present, and you can perceive that the fear is a threat of an internal homeostasis, might it be possible to see it as an chance to correct habituated responses?  Use it as a chance to flutter a wing outside of the coccoon?  As a flagship for opportunity?

This can grow your self-confidence AND self-esteem in ways you may not even imagine.  And it sheds light on other ways we may be locking ourselves inside of fear of the unknown.  As much as we may be desiring a new position, perspective, or state of being in life - unless and until the fears of leaving the unknown are addressed, we remained doomed to repeat cycles that keep us right in our previous patterns.

Imagine great things….and walk right into them!

© Lani Muelrath  WANT TO USE ANY OF THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR NEWSLETTER OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it  "Fitness professional and entrepreneur Lani Muelrath, "The Fitness DreamMaker weekly. If you're ready to revolutionize your health, fitness and well-being, go to www.lanimuelrath.com."