Fear. It's everywhere you want to be.

What are you afraid of? Old age? Being penniless? Being old and penniless? Being old and sick and penniless? Public speaking? Death? Clowns? Strangers? Spiders? Storm drains? An appendicitis attack while camping? Seeing the dentist? Not measuring up? Being laid-off? Having a car wreck? Hey, the sky’s the limit! And I suspect that, like me, you’ve already discovered that fear’s finest hour is generally oh, sometime right around 3:15 am.

It’s fear-speak everywhere you turn. Twenty-four hour bad-news media presents us with fears we didn’t even know we had. Even when we’re aware of what they’re doing, it’s easy to fall for it. I saw it on my home page this morning: “The 15 Things Women Do Every Day that They Should Never Do” (it’s nearly impossible not to check that one out).

And of course, fear sells products. Big time.

Fear of looking old? Better buy our patented wrinkle cream.
Fear of spending eternity in hell? Join our church – we’ll save your soul.
Terrorists are everywhere! Vote for me and I’ll protect you.
Bicycle riding can lead to brain injuries! Have we got a helmet for you.
Chances are 1 in 4 that you will get sick and need hospitalization! Pay us hundreds of dollars a month and we’ll give you peace of mind.
Intruders could break in and steal your children! You need our home security system.

It’s sad to think that fear is such a big part of who we are that doctors have an entire genre to identify each and every phobia. Thanks to phobialist.com here are just a few:

Arachibutyrophobia (fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of the mouth)
Lachanophobia (fear of vegetables)
Dementophobia (fear of madness)
Mageirocophobia (fear of cooking – one of my favorites)
Geniophobia (fear of chins)
Consecotaleophobia (fear of chopsticks)
Hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia (yes, you guessed it, fear of long words)
Novercaphobia (fear of your step-mother)
Walloonphobia (fear of the Walloons) Walloons?
And to round out the list - Phobophobia (fear of phobias) But of course.

But what if life were just the opposite? What if you were surrounded and bombarded by love-filled talk instead – and had been as long as you can remember? What would that feel like? What kind of a person would you be? How good would you feel about yourself and others? What would your family life be like? What if we loved ourselves enough to only speak loving thoughts to, and about, others? On a larger scale, what would happen to the economy? Our political infra-structure? Our planet?

I think back on how many of my major life decisions have been rooted in fear. I think about how different the outcome would have been if I had applied love to my decision-making instead. Love of myself. Love of life. Love for the other people involved. Love from a higher perspective.

Do you know how to tell where your thoughts originate?

Fear-based thoughts never feel good.
Love-based thoughts always feel good.

Give it a try – I think you’ll be surprised at how well it works.