Understanding Fear

In today's world there is a complexity to fear that can be mind boggling. We can find ourselves fearful of so many things coming from so many directions: fear of loss, fear of the unknown, fear of that which is out of our control, fear of emotional threats, fear of environmental threats, just to name a few. Fear can stop us from living our lives fully, can prevent us from reaping the bounty that life can be. To understand fear, you truly need to understand it's origins.

In the beginning, well before we were ever born, fear was the cornerstone to man's survival. Fear was the response that triggered our bodies to prepare for the three key survival responses: fight, flight, or fold. Fear resides in our emotional center - the part of our brain that held sway over our responses well before logic reared it's multidimensional head. Fear was king during a time when the human race focused 100% of it's time on food, water, and shelter/safety. Fear was key in ensuring that man lived to see another day. Then something happened.

Logic and language have taken the human race to places far beyond those early beginnings. We've been to the moon, we've cloned entire organisms, we've reordered our world in ways that were unimaginable to the original man. However, no matter how far we have come, no matter what the time and distance, fear is still with us. It is a part of our survival mechanism, and our bodies still react with the intent that fear has a purpose and that it's purpose embraces survival. The problem is, in today's world, fear can step in at the most inopportune and inappropriate moments. Where fear was once a welcome companion to survival, it has now become an obstacle to success and fulfillment.

There are no easy answers to this conundrum. For myself, just recognizing that fear, when it appears, can seem like a fish out of water. This recognition allows me to embrace it and, to some degree, put it to rest. You can give fear its due: I know that some people intentionally take risks and engage in risky behaviors. Fear and logic have the habit of dancing around each other, but logic can never truly touch fear, and when fear dominates, logic struggles for a hand hold. Awareness becomes the best determinant in managing fear. When fear is appropriate, let it lead you. When fear is not called for, honor that your body is responding in a way that has gotten mankind to this point. Give yourself the space and grace to move past fear, in these instances, into a place of logic. Make of your life what you want, fear should be your ally. You determine how it plays out in your life.

Connecting Passion with Reality

I recently attended a presentation by Simon Sinek. I first connected with Simon's message when I listened to and watched his presentation on TED (my all time favorite want to know something about anything site!)

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action.html.

What I took away from Simon's talk was very different than I think most people in the room took away. Those that were in attendance were all CEOs, COOs, Owners, and VPs of companies from all over Wisconsin and northern Illinois. What I took away from Simon had to do with a particular element of his TED WHY presentation and the presentation that I attended. What I took away had to do with how the brain works when it comes to connecting Passion, and particularly Passion associated with one's WHY, to the real world. Simon speaks to the two areas of the brain, the neocortex, and the limbic cortex, as playing key roles in connecting with your own WHY as well as connecting others with your WHY. What I came away with was that, because these two areas of the brain don't "get" each other, you have to build "bridges" to make those connections, and you have to do this regularly - almost like a drum beat.

Defining your WHY is just the first step. The definition of your WHY finds voice as a result of your neocortex, which is where your logic and language abilities reside. The heart of your WHY, the soul of your WHY, is fueled by the voiceless, logicless emotional center of your brain - your limbic cortex. It, unlike that which comes from logic and language, has no corporeal form - it is purely of spirit. It, by itself, also has little "staying power" in the realm of reality. There, then, is truly the rub! How do you take something of spirit and give it form? If you think of this question in terms of human existence, this has been the making and downfall through history of humankind. Simon has taken this age old struggle to connect spiritually with our world and distilled it down to ones own WHY.

Simon, during his presentation to this group, pointed to some of the "things" that he uses, on his person, to connect the spirit of his WHY to reality and to current events. Simon wears orange items that, when he sees them,feels them, and uses them, are reminders, are ties that connect the spirit and reality of his WHY. He developed and used these "shorthand things" as a conduit. They help to continually connect the emotional part of his WHY with the logic and language part of his WHY. People of like mind resonate with Simon's message in proportion to their own drive to make similar connections for themselves. So what exactly happens when this spirit/reality connection is made, nurtured and returned to the world? There are examples of those individuals who have been able to resonate over a continual period and time, and both spiritually and realistically connect with a powerful WHY: Martin Luther King, Gandhi, Jacqueline Novogratz, Henry Ford, and Steve Jobs, to name a few. A truly powerful WHY transcends individuals, embraces possibilities not yet realized, and strives towards horizons yet unseen.