Facing Your Fears

How do you get rid of your fears?

If you ask Paul Tournier, he wouldn’t help his patients eliminate their fears in his counseling.

“That which does not frighten does not have meaning. All the best things in life have an element of fear in them,” he explained.

It sounds surprising. Because generally, we’re all programmed for comfort and assurance.

But reality is, we’re always caught in life somewhere between our need for safety or security and our need to risk to move out to new growth areas.

I’m reminded of Benjamin Franklin.

At 16, he dared to be a newspaper columnist. And at 81, he beat all health odds to be a framer of the U.S. Constitution.

No matter your age, young or old, you can choose to live with life, excitement, and adventure.

One of my “senior citizen” patients once confided, “I put all my scared money to bitcoin!” He’s one of the early adopters in cryptocurrency.

His new venture had all kinds of possibility for loss and failure. He resolved that even if he suffered some errors, he could still use them to gain success.

He faced his fears, living by creative risk. And that choice led to some of his most fulfilling and exciting financial blessings for him and his family during his remaining years.

To do battle with the enemy - both from within and outside us - an inordinate need for and clinging to our comfort zones may actually be a form of mental illness.

A healthy person is someone who can reasonably choose risk to have life abundant.

Think about it.