Personal growth: Fear, doing, and confidence November 13, 2017
Posted by Dennis Mellersh in Fear and Anxiety.Tags: achieving goals, life, negative thinking, philosophy, Ray Bradbury, self-actualization, self-improvement, writing
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Trying something new often stimulates a fear component which can immobilize us, whether it is in our self-actualization and self-improvement program, or something simply related to daily living.
The fear of doing something can be minor, or it can be overwhelming, depending on both our confidence level, and the magnitude of what we are attempting.
In our minds we can up with an assortment of reasons why we should (a) postpone doing what we are contemplating, or (b) completely retreat, deciding to not do anything.
The key reason that we often hesitate or pull back is that we might we might fail.
The writer Ray Bradbury has advised us to jump off the cliff (of doing) and to build our wings on the way down.
We will usually be pleasantly surprised to realize that we can fly.
— Dennis Mellersh
The role of action in overcoming fear and doubt November 27, 2012
Posted by Dennis Mellersh in Fear and Anxiety.Tags: controlling ego, ego management, managing the ego, Norman Vincent Peale, personal development, positive thinking, quotes, Ray Bradbury
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In our personal growth and development efforts we sometimes need to attack our ego’s tendency to fill our minds with fear and foreboding about starting a new project or embarking on a new path in our life journey.
In any new effort towards increasing our potential, our ego (the little voice in our heads) may have a tendency to throw up cautionary warnings about our planned or hoped-for course of action. It fact, it sometimes seems as if the ego considers its main job to be placing fears and doubts in the way of what we would like to do, particularly when it comes to taking steps to improve our lives.
Although we may try to block out this “voice of the ego”, it can be difficult to do so. When the ego cannot be ignored, one of the best approaches is to fight through the fears and doubts by taking action towards whatever we want to pursue or accomplish.
Here are a couple of quotations that I enjoy, and which may help you push through your fear by taking action.
The first is by the late writer Ray Bradbury discussing what you need to do in fearful situations:
“Stand at the top of the cliff; jump off; and then build your wings on the way down.”
The second quote I suggest you consider is by the late Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, a minister and influential writer on the concept of positive thinking.
“Action is a great restorer and builder of confidence. Inaction is not only the result, but the cause, of fear. Perhaps the action you take will be successful; perhaps different action or adjustments will have to follow. But any action is better than no action at all.”
Personal Development Ideas 