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Through prayer, we view our wants and needs through the eyes of God. We gain consciousness of God’s presence in our lives. And, our faith strengthens.

The more I look around and listen I realize that I'm not alone. We are all facing choices that define us.
-Sabrina Ward Harrison

In this series on fear, I started by talking about how fear contributes to isolation and loneliness. And that facing fear can be a challenge because it defies rational thought and disguises itself in many forms. Finally, I discussed conquering fear by exercising courage muscles on a regular basis.
I’d like to wrap up this series [...]

There are four ways you can handle fear. You can go over it, under it, or around it. But if you are ever to put fear behind you, you must walk straight through it. Once you put fear behind you, leave it there.
-Donna A. Favors

We know that Fear Defies Reasoning and that we can not conquer our fears with rational thinking alone.

Sunset over a desert mountain north of Phoenix, AZ.
Instead, fear is conditioned. It is sustained by deep rooted emotions and beliefs. Because of this, the sense of relief we feel when we avoid something we fear reinforces the [...]

In time we hate that which we often fear.
-William Shakespeare

As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, Fear Defies Reasoning, the first thing we need to do in order to conquer fear is to uncover it. Fear is illusive. It disguises itself in many ways. Here are 5 ways that fear manifests:

Stress. All stress is fear. When we feel stress, we are looking at what we [...]

If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment.
-Marcus Aurelius

Fear is the anti-inspiration. Inspiration is perpetuated by love: love of life, ourselves, each other, God, etc. And, fear is the opposite of love. If we find that inspiration is fleeting in our lives it may be that fear is robbing it from us.
To face and eliminate fear is to give rise to inspiration. It [...]

...attempting the mastery of fear is useless. In fact, it asserts the power of fear by the very assumption that it need be mastered. The true resolution rests entirely on mastery through love.
-Foundation for Inner Peace
A Course In Miracles

Uniqueness is inherently human. Each of us contains a unique character, and perhaps more significantly, a unique perception of the world around us. This uniqueness seems to make it impossible to relate with another person entirely.
When we allow ourselves to be immersed in love with another or with God, we give up a little bit [...]

A man should never be ashamed to own he has been in the wrong, which is but saying... that he is wiser today than he was yesterday.
-Alexander Pope

The past is gone. But, it is a piece of the experience that defines who we are today.
All fear, stress and regret come from the past. We can be free of them entirely by choosing to live in this moment.
In this moment, life is simpler, mistakes are less devastating, work is more productive and relationships [...]

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