Fear is everywhere you go, in every event, in every person. Turn on the nightly news and you’ll get an ample dose of daily fear—murderers on the loose, outbreaks of infectious diseases, terrorist warnings, dangerous weather conditions, tainted food supplies. And that’s just the first fifteen minutes! You may as well assume the fetal position and stay in bed the rest of your life. That is, if you don’t have a carbon monoxide leak in your home or an allergic reaction to dust mites. You can find fear in anything...if that’s what you’re looking for.

The media loves fear because fear sells more papers, attracts more viewers and gives them a captive audience. When a friend of mine shut off the dismal TV news at her dying Grandmother’s house one day, her Grandmother quickly reprimanded her and yelled, “Turn the news back on. I have to know if there’s anything I need to worry about!” She died about a month later. Control is the root of fear, often rendering the victim emotionally paralyzed. Many battered women continue to suffer at the hands of their spouses or boyfriends for fear of the consequences of an unsuccessful exit. Or, perhaps just fear of the unknown, a feeling we’ve all experienced around issues such as safety, money, relationships, health or salvation. (The fear of God has long been used as a tactic for religious groups to corral their parishioners into supporting their beliefs and contributing to their wealth.)

After having her home bombed, the lives of her children threatened, and her husband murdered Coretta Scott King (wife of Martin Luther King Jr.) could have easily chosen to live a more quiet, normal life, but just four days after her husband’s death, she led a march of fifty thousand people and then continued to carry on his work as a human rights advocate, helping millions of others to choose non-violent means for social change.

Much of what happens in the

Imagine how much energy it takes to focus on the worse possible scenario of every day. Now imagine channeling that energy in a positive direction, making your life more fun, happy and fulfilling. While you can’t change what’s presented to you from your friends, family, community and the world—either individually or through mass communication—you can change how you react to it—or don’t. If it’s something that doesn’t please you, choose to be a Goddess and rise above it, without stopping to visit.

5 Ways to Rise Above Fear

• Try not to worry about things you can’t control or things that might happen.

• Detach yourself from the negative emotional hype of media news, or don’t watch it.

• If you feel threatened in any relationship, leave or seek help.

• Visualize yourself bathed in protective white light wherever you are.

• Remember there are two sides to every story—find the positive one.

Excerpted from the book: The Goddess of Happiness, A Down-to-Earth Guide for Heavenly Balance and Bliss

Debbie Gisonni, aka The Goddess of Happiness™, is an author (The Goddess of Happiness: A Down-to-Earth Guide for Heavenly Balance and Bliss and Vita’s Will: Real Life Lessons about Life Death & Moving On), speaker, happiness expert and columnist for iVillage.com. Contact: http://www.goddessofhappiness.com

Copyright, All Rights Reserved, Debbie Gisonni

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