Posts Tagged ‘The Fear Project’
Fear as an Ally
Thursday, January 24th, 2013
Fear doesn’t have to rule your life. You can do it, even if you have to do it afraid. ~Joyce Meyer
One of my favorite Joyce Meyer’s quotes is “Do it afraid.” That is exactly what came to mind as I was reading the new book by Jaimal Yogis, The Fear Project: What Our Most Primal Emotion Taught Me About Survival, Success, Surfing…and Love. The book explores both his personal experience as well as interviewing leading neuroscientists and other experts about the most primal emotion – fear.
Is fear something we overcome or simply an ally that pushes us forward in the world? Can you deep dive into fear so as to befriend it and allow fear to push personal limits?
Through amazing stories such as swimming in the wild currents of the San Francisco Bay to surfing 40+ foot waves in the winter, Yogis touches upon our innate fears – the fear of not trusting, the fear of losing someone we love, and our own internal fears of not being enough.
The book will give you insight as to why fear can dominate your life and ways to use fear as an ally. His personal stories have universal themes and you will find yourself laughing out loud. As Yogis says, “Much as we like to make it into the villain, fear isn’t bad. In fact, as we’ll learn, it’s often our fear of fear – our aversion to accepting and understanding this very natural emotion – that can cause fear to spin into unhelpful panic and anxiety disorders.”
The Fear Project will give you a better understanding of “good and bad fear” and how to push through what gets in our way to fulfilling our potential – doing it afraid.
Yogis connects his personal stories to scientific research in real and fun ways. It combines what I love best – storytelling and neuroscience. I was a huge fan of his previous book, Saltwater Buddha. This book took me to the depths of my fears – the current one of uncertainty – and gave me insight to relate to it in new and emerging ways.
When you are ready to explore fear as an ally, go read this book. Do it afraid.