We were born with only a few fears — like the fear of falling and the fear of loud noises. All other fears we learn along the way. Like the fear of failure, the fear of rejection, and even the fear of success. Our greatest enemy in life is fear; because fear keeps us from doing many of those things, we would like to do that would make our life more complete and more enjoyable.
Doubt is the first cousin of fear and precedes it. We weren’t born
with doubt. Our habit of doubt has grown throughout our life. If we dwell on a
doubt and give in to it, it then grows into fear. James Allen, author
of, “As A Man Thinketh” reminds us that doubt makes us ineffective, “A doubtful
mind will be as unsettled as the wave of the sea that is tossed and driven by
the wind; and every decision you then make will be uncertain, as you turn first
this way, and then that.”
If most of our fears and all of our doubts are learned along the way, then
we can “unlearn” them by becoming masters of our thoughts. Zig Ziglar quoted
Mark Twain when he said, “True courage is not the absence of fear, and it’s the
mastery of fear.” The people who live the life of their dreams have
just as many fears as those who live miserable, unfulfilled lives – they have
just learned to master their fears instead of allowing their fears to master
them.
Norman Vincent Peale, writing in You Can If You Think You Can,
provides us with a prescription for mastering fear and doubt. “You can cancel
out fear with faith. For there is no force in this world more powerful than
faith. The most amazing things can happen as a result of it…There are
two massive thought forces competing for control of the mind: fear and faith,
and faith is stronger, much stronger. Hold that thought of faith’s greater
power until you believe it, for it can be the difference between success and
failure.”
Doubt and fear are the great enemies of knowledge, and she who
encourages them, who does not slay them, thwarts herself at every step.” —
James Allen
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