Fear or Confidence: Which Are You Choosing?
© 2011 Carol James, Founder of InspiredLiving.com

Fear can be the greatest motivator, but it is also the number one cause of stress, which leads to effort, struggle, suffering, accidents, pain and disease. Fear wears many masks, some of which include:

• Fear of rejection
• Fear of failure
• Fear of losing
• Fear of succeeding
• Fear of not being good enough
• Fear of the future
• Fear of losing control
• Fear of being controlled
• Fear of being wrong
• Fear of change
• Fear of new ideas
• Fear of not being loved

Confidence resides in the absence of fear and comes from knowing that all is well regardless of appearances. Whether you experience fear or confidence has nothing to do with the circumstances of your life or your external environment and everything to do with your inner perceptions – the meaning you make about your situation. In every situation you encounter, you always have a choice to perceive it through the eyes of fear or confidence. For instance:

• You can blame others or take responsibility for your own life.
• You can cling to the past or experience each moment in the now.
• You can criticizing others or appreciate them.
• You can doubt your abilities or feel confident.
• You can fear failure or acknowledge your success.
• You can get defensive or open your mind.
• You can hold a grudge or forgive.
• You can judge others or seek to understand them.
• You can live life by others rules and regulations or set your own.
• You can defend your rightness or find a way to create win-win outcomes.
• You can push against what you don't want or create what you do want.
• You can resist change or flow with it.
• You can worry about what others' are doing or focus on what you are doing.
• You can worry about the future or feel secure in the present.
• You can fret over the past or find comfort in what you have gained.
• You can worry about what others will think or be confident in your own knowing.

From which stance – fear or confidence – are you viewing the circumstances of your life?

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