Many people have fears - some are rational and others are irrational.  Of the rational fears, there are generally six ghosts of fear:

THE SIX GHOSTS OF FEAR

1.    Fear of Poverty

2.    Fear of Criticism

3.    Fear of Ill Health

4.    Fear of Failure

5.    Fear of Loss of Love

6.    Fear of Death

The antidote for fear is faith and action.   To take action, one needs to courage and hope.  To find courage, we do not get rid of fear.  We get rid of fear by testing our courage.  We build our courage and hope through achieving goals.   Goals should be challenging yet achievable in order to lead to high levels of hope and courage.

With that in mind, here are the four exercises to build your hope “muscles”:

1. Set a goal and imagine new opportunities that will allow you to meet it. This is called possibility thinking and is a key to making progress.
2. Work slowly but steadily toward your goal. (Even if the “new opportunity” mentioned above hasn’t shown up yet!)
3. Talk with people who seem hopeful about their future, a counselor or a coach. Sometimes you need another perspective to see smart new opportunities and these people are just the ones who will help you find them.
4. Treat yourself well. Hope flourishes—and everything looks better—when you are taking care of yourself.

THIS WEEK I WILL DO ONE THING THAT

REQUIRES COURAGE OR TESTS MY COURAGE