I’d like to start today’s blog with a thought-provoking question. If you knew you could not a fail at any project or endeavour, what would you do? Maybe it’s a change of career or starting a new business venture or perhaps writing that novel you’ve been thinking about for so long. It doesn’t matter what it is, if you knew failure was impossible would you do it? Now if you answered in the affirmative then I will say this:

Fear is what is preventing you from living your dreams.

You see fear, which is the opposite of faith robs us of so much in life and when you realize its merely the ego acting in self protect mode you’ll understand why I say, if you have a passion or unfulfilled dream: “F@#k the fear and do it anyway.”

Now you might say “Michael that’s easier said than done, supposing I start the novel and it’s a complete disaster I couldn’t take the ridicule” or maybe you’re thinking “l just can’t leave the security of my job I’ve got a mortgage to pay and responsibilities. If the business fails I could be homeless.” I’m not advising you to be irresponsible but being “responsible” is often used as a cover up for the real truth. Fear of failure has such a strong hold on us, often it’s what suffocates the big dreams of so many. Its why so many put their big aspirations on the back burner and live out a life existing in the safe zone.

How often have you sat and daydreamed about something that you would love to do? For a fleeting moment you feel exhilarated only for this feeling to evaporate as your mind tries to work out the how. “The risk is too great you say” and you then reluctantly park it off in the someday compartment in your mind.

So often in the past I had similar inspired moments that accompany my self-reflections, only a little later to experience a complete loss of confidence when trying to put together a plan. Not realising I moved from the feeling of the wish fulfilled to one of despair.

How I Turned My Dream into Reality

“Courage is not the absence of fear, it’s the presence of fear but the will to go on.” Anon

It’s a labour of love writing in this blog each week, connecting, and being involved in this fantastic community. Teaching conscious awareness is my passion and the growth and vibrancy of the members over at the academy is beyond my wildest expectations. Like you, I seek to create the best possible life one that fulfils and excites me every day. When I follow that good feeling, I know I’m being led by intuition. That’s a positive thing despite the bad rap that emotions get especially in the business world where your taught to be steely, calculated, and unflappable.

Now I’ll make a confession; it wasn’t always like that for me. I remember a few years ago during a session with my Life Coach, I recall telling him, how despondent I felt with my life, in particular my career. Honestly. I was a property developer/ landlord at the time, and I confess I hated every minute of it. I chose that career path because I thought it would be financially rewarding, not because it was my passion I might add, but despite the rewards I was no longer enjoying it. I put it down to the clichéd “midlife crisis” lol.

I can remember my coach asking me this one question: “Michael what is your passion?” l said my passion what do you mean?” He replied what do you love doing, what do you spend most of the day talking about? I said well it’s all this metaphysics stuff.” He then challenged me by saying” There’s your answer, you’re constantly learning and practicing this, so why don’t you make it your vocation?

But how would I pay my bills, how would I meet my responsibilities I thought.? It’s a very daunting undertaking for a middle-aged man with a family and commitments to suddenly make a complete career change. At the time I had no idea of all the practical steps involved and to be honest if I did I would have probably been deterred, but I couldn’t deny the spiritual awakening I was experiencing, it was all consuming. I just felt on a deeper level that this was my calling, my purpose. So, despite all the fears I had, all the unknowns and let me assure you I had plenty at the time, I decided f@æk it I’m going to do it anyway. Now I’m not saying the decision was made overnight however as I grew in awareness my decision was inevitable.

Faith the Opposite Of Fear

“It’s about a reward of sticking to what you believe in… They never give in and that’s a winner” Alex Ferguson

Beyond your personal doubts and fears is a place where you are full of self-worth and joy. But if you’re not experiencing that now you’re going to have to move out of the comfort zone your presently in. I’m going to go out on a limb and say this: “the fears will never go away.” Yep! As long as you’re extending yourself, stretching your abilities and taking risks to realise your dreams, fear will always be there. It’s just your ego working in default mode, which is there to try and protect you. You can either languish in the safe zone, just getting by or respond to that secret yearning and face that fear head on and dive in. If you make the brave choice you have the ultimate antidote to fear: courage and faith.

Ultimately fear and faith are just different sides of the same coin. With fear, you’re merely imagining with intense feeling things you do not want to happen. These gremlins of your imagination true to form if accepted by the subconscious will be played out into your experience. However, you can consciously imagine the opposite, the wish fulfilled and with the same intense feeling impress this preferred scenario onto the subconscious. If your successful in doing this what do you think will happen? True to form the impersonal subconscious mind will give you this alternative experience instead. The second choice is simply exercising faith. (belief in the unseen)

The strongest force in humans is that we act in a way that totally matches how we define ourselves. These subconscious beliefs dictate 95% of our actions. When we say I’m a loser, I’m not good enough, I can’t do this if only we knew how we are making these thoughts real and how our minds job is to actually objectify them. This is the creative power of consciousness.

Within your magical inner realm is the capacity to have all your wishes fulfilled. Here in your imagination is the greatest power you will ever know. Wayne Dyer

Ever seen a movie, listen to a podcast or perhaps read a biography of someone who had the courage and fortitude to achieve great things with their life. Maybe an amazing story of someone overcoming great adversity. How about a rag to riches story or what about an amazing sporting achievement that was realised by overcoming enormous emotional or physical obstacles? No doubt these people at some stage all felt fearful but were able to push through. These amazing stories aren’t for the privilege few but can be your own biography too!

Being part of this community means you’ve expressed a willingness to change your self-conception, it also means at some stage you’ll need to confront those fears. I know myself I’m a work in progress but also like you I’m here to explore and develop a trust of this higher aspect of myself. Whether you’re looking at motivation, clarity or progress it’s all centred around you! Trusting your imagination and overcoming the fears is how you achieve those elusive dreams.

Time to Act Throw That Hat Over the Fence

Think of your own goal or dream life. You can neither listen to your feelings that are screaming for you to pursue it, or you can obey that logical thinking that says you will never beat the odds. I’m always meeting people who are waiting for the right conditions or setup to get started. They view life as sh@t or bust operation” Oh, I’ll move to a bigger house when I get the promotion” They are always constantly deferring things

In fact, Larry a friend of mine who constantly procrastinates that he will finish his garage conversion that he’s been working on for 15 years! “I’ll be finishing that soon” he keeps telling me. I’ve listened for years to the countless excuses why the garage, which he was converting into a small gymnasium had not been completed

Why, well the reason is my friend is such a perfectionist, he fears it will not be to his standards. Everything has to be perfect before he starts. If the total budget is not in hand and if he has no other commitments to distract him he is not prepared to start. I think even if he satisfied these conditions which is highly unlikely he’d find another excuse, maybe the planets aren’t aligned d properly or something like that, 101!

In any case what I’m trying to illustrate is that these excuses are just deflecting the real underlying reason why he has not started which is; fear.

This is why the old adage of “throwing your hat over the fence” works so well for me. It’s a maxim for confronting fear and taking positive action when facing an obstacle. The act of tossing that hat shows a commitment to overcome. You know you have to climb over that obstacle in order to retrieve the hat. Pertaining to any project I’m working on whenever I encounter a situation that I’m fearful of and the whispers of doubts begin to enter my mind I always take massive counteracting action. I recognise that this is my ego going into protection mode and that if I’m being loyal to the assumption that I am the man I want to be, if I’m exercising faith in my imagination then I must act according to the desired state. This is why I think acting in spite of fear is vitally important.

Finally remember when you are merely thinking about your fears and not actively doing something about them, your fears have the upper hand. They own you. Left unchallenged they can paralyse you, leave you feeling insecure and ultimately unfulfilled. Live in imagination and faith and like the many heroes you will be like those who stood up faced their fears and became the greatest version of themselves.