"The moments when you feel fear provide a perfect opportunity for you to open your heart and create Authentic Power. Fear is generally in your imagination, sustained by a frightened part of your personality. Trust your heart, face your fear, and recognize it as an impulse from a fearful part of your personality, not from your heart and soul. You can choose to turn your fear into love. In this contemplation, I've combined ways to address fears and change behavior from motivational teacher Rhonda Britten and meditation teacher Pema Chodron.
"To use your emotions as questions to deepen your understanding of yourself, sit quietly and name a situation in which you feel fear or anger. Think of what you are expecting to happen — what you expect you will have to do in this situation and what you expect other people will do. Are you acting a certain way because you feel you have to? Does this make you defensive or angry?
"As you feel fear arise in you, notice how you are patterned to react. Stop it. Do not say what you have said before. Do not do what you have done before. Do something unfamiliar. Do anything but what you've done before.
"Look at the fear as temporary. Observe the emotion or fear, see it for what it is, and allow it to leave or subside. It may be difficult for you not to do something, but it may be better to sit and breathe and do nothing at all. To turn these expectations into positive intentions, breathe mindfully and connect with your heart. Change those negative expectations into positive intentions. Envision how you will act from the heart and how you will extend compassion and love to others."
