False Evidence Appearing Real.

And that one little word will keep us from making changes that are necessary in our lives. The three main fears that keep us from doing anything are as follows:

1. The fear of change
2. The fear of criticism
3. The fear of failure

The fear of change manifests itself into the fear of the unknown. The fear of criticism will destroy your imagination and creativity. And the fear of failure will keep you from trying, every single time.

Anybody who has not failed at something has probably never succeeded at anything either. I have failed miserably at many things, but I keep getting up and trying again, only a little differently this time. Didn’t Edison fail 1,000 times before he got it right? Ponder that for a moment.

A few years ago, a certain situation would paralyze me. Literally. I would feel my chest become tight, my throat would close, and my hands would begin to sweat. It felt like my skin didn’t fit right. But it would always pass. Always. And those horrible experiences, which would “come for a brief visit” into my day, were happening more often than I care to admit. But I learned to pray and trust during this awful time, and I still do pray and trust. I’ve learned to let go. Not all the time, I’m not perfect. But I’m better. And that little FEAR blurb really helped.

Fear can paralyze. It can make you look like a deer caught in the headlights. It can make you go “tharn” – which anyone who’s read Watership Down will understand. But you must remember that fear passes through. It touches on you but then goes through and away. Just don’t allow it to stay. Let it go. Everybody knows the count to five technique, and I’ve recently heard that you should count to thirteen, but sometimes that takes too long.

But if a full-blown panic attack is taking you over and your beginning to freak out, not only have I been there, but I can help you with a a nice little trick I learned from a friend of mine. It’s a simple breathing technique. It goes like this: place your fingers around your nostrils like a kid does when they’re learning to go under water. Then release 1 finger from 1 nostril and breathe in to the count of 4; cover that nostril again, uncover the other, and breathe out for the count of 4. This will almost immediately slow down your heart.

And if you’re not prone to panic attacks or spazzing out like I was (and many are), then you can use this as a simple, “God grant me serenity” little breathing technique and be on your merry way.