Life can be overwhelming at times.  Financial problems, work problems, bad news from the doctor, conflict with your boyfriend/girl friend.

This struggle can go by different names: depression, anxiety, stress, a sense of hopelessness, or an “I wanna hide in a hole” feeling - fear

Fear, recognized or not, has become a dominant problem in society today.

Recently, I was asked how I overcome my fears.  (Never before had I thought about the process behind this, but after a quick internal brainstorming session I responded)....

“I act on my fears!”

My statement opened a whole new can of worms, as my answer wasn’t clear enough to the asker....I won’t elaborate here, because I’m not sure how many of your readers want to hear my take on faith and how it was born out of fear.

So what caused fear to be the number one problem in society today? Why do people let fear control their actions, values and lives? My answer is the difference between reacting to fear and acting in fear. For it has everything to do with my own principles.

Children typically react instinctively to fear, which is appropriate behaviour for that age. But most youth and adults don’t make the distinction between reacting to fear, as when they were a child, and acting with their brain when dealing with fear.

People react naturally to fear by either denying it or running away from it. They overlook the power that comes from acting with their brains, mind, and intelligence never allowing the fear to become the “award” it was intended to be. So for me, I try to learn to act with my mind by exposing my true fears and the thinking they represent and free myself so I can move on with all I am meant to do, have and become!

The thoughts of the change involved to solve any sort of problem can feel as if it threatens life as we know it.  At those moments, it can feel like we are in a struggle for emotional survival.

Fear, can be easily described as making it tricky to think. It can eat away at our souls. It can drive us to avoid issues in general. It can spiral into panic where we clutch at any solution at arm’s reach.

To “hide in a hole” increases a sense of helplessness. The test is to act in the face of fear. You need to take some kind of action.  This is where guts come into play. The action doesn’t need to be colossal. It can be as simple as picking up the phone. Or just opening our mouth and expressing our thoughts to the person next to us: “The Leafs look like a playoff team this year, don’t you think?”

The harder it is for you to think about doing this, the more imperative it is to do. Fear can be paralyzing. But action, action works to calm you and restore your balance. Taking action helps me gain new viewpoints, have different thought patterns, and make better decisions.

In other words, a call into action can clear away doubt, give a focused sense of direction, and restore a sense of confidence. Our inner resources never really disown us. And the more we are conscious of that inner place and can access those resources, the more we will overcome fear.

By Brian