Turn Fear Into Power

The recent media reports alerting us to the impending terrorist attacksare an insult to the intelligence of the American people and nothingmore than sensationalism, designed to boost ratings. This is not news.Everyone in the United States above the age of reason knew that at9:00am on September 11th, 2001. This accomplishes little other thanadding fuel to the fire of fear that is already festering in the heartsof many Americans, especially our children. Making headlines of thesefears does absolutely nothing to ease people's pain. Are we supposed tobelieve that we can guard against terrorist attacks? How? By not walkingpast a parked car? By not travelling? By staying out of public places?By locking ourselves in our homes hovering in a corner? Most assuredlynot!

It is time for us to reclaim our lives, take back our power and takecharge of our destiny. Our government is doing all they can to guardagainst a terrorist attack; at least we sincerely hope they are. Theonly way to eliminate this threat entirely is to cause a massive shiftin human consciousness, making a terrorist act unthinkable. In themeantime if it requires drastic measures to rid the world of the currentterrorists, so be it, however, our focus moving forward needs to be onreclaiming our lives.

During the depression of the 1930's President Roosevelt called together"new thought" leaders, people like Napoleon Hill and Norman VincentPeale, religious leaders, and the media, in an effort to end thedepression. Everyone agreed that the way to bring the country out ofdepression was to begin to propagate positive messages and messages ofrecovery. Sure enough, after a while, the tide began to turn and in timethe depression ended. This idea is not some far out, new age thinking.These principles can be translated back to the Indian sages more tha
5,000 years ago. The Bible tells us our thoughts create our reality andthis same theme appears in every religion and philosophy since.

Here are just a few of the people who have echoed this philosophy: "Thedestiny of man is in his own soul," Herodotes (5th century B.C.); "Ourlife is what our thoughts make of it," Marcus Aurelius (121-180); "Aman's what he thinks about all day long," Ralph Waldo Emerson(1803-1882); "A man is literally what he thinks," James Allen(1849-1925); "We are what we believe we are," Benjamin N. Cardozo(1870-1938)

The idea that our thoughts create our reality is accepted by most peopleby now. What we consistently hold in our minds and focus on, becomes ourreality. This is why it is crucial that we do not allow ourselves todwell on thoughts of fear and disaster. Doing so can do us nothing butharm.

I am not suggesting for a moment that we become complacent or careless,quite the contrary. As an inspirational author and coach, I work withpeople to focus on "what's working" and to take charge of their lives.By holding our attention on what's working in a situation and onpositive outcomes our brain is engaged to lead us to more creativesolutions.

Since September 11th, a lot has been done to ensure our safety. A lot ofpeople in Federal, State, and local agencies have worked very hard toestablish systems to help protect us. A lot of good work is being done.There are a significant number of people focusing their energies onpromoting principles of world peace. Prayer and meditation groups allover the world are working to facilitate healing.

It may take a long time to extinguish terrorism in the world. Innocentpeople will surely be hurt or killed, however, our focus must be onreclaiming our lives and expanding upon what is working in our world.Anything else is insanity and self-destructive.

Many of us in the human performance arena are interested in working withbusinesses, schools and government agencies to help create an atmosphereof empowerment and help people regain a positive outlook on life. Peopleneed to be learn specific coping techniques to regain their sense ofcontrol over their lives. Not more things to fear. We need to begin nowto eradicate the fear that is gripping our society. Let us not forgetthe wisdom of Franklin D. Roosevelt who said, "The only thing we have tofear is fear itself."