Choosing Love Over Fear by Sharon @AwakeningTrue

Tags

choices, choosing love, fear, love

I am delighted to introduce Sharon Kathryn D’Agostino as my co-host for our Sunday, August 14th 2016 conversation on twitter in #SpiritChat (9amET/1pmUTC). Please join us so we can explore this beautiful topic that Sharon has chosen for us. Do read her thoughts below, and connect with her through her many empowering projects listed in her brief bio below. Thank you! – @AjmaniK

Choosing Love Over Fear

Every minute of every day, we are faced with choices that shape our lives. There are big choices related to our relationships, our beliefs, our work… and smaller choices (or so they seem) about what we will do with our day, with whom we will speak, how we will invest our time and energy. Our days might look very different if we consistently asked this question: “Am I making this choice from a place of love, or a place of fear?” If we began asking this question throughout the day, we might be surprised by how pervasive fear is in our lives.

A beloved relative recently told me, “The world is a scary place.” I smiled and carefully considered my reply. “I think the world is a beautiful place. And as I talk with you, I think about all the people who love you. Nature loves you. Look at those magnificent trees waving their leaves at you, listen to those birds singing for you. It is true that some people live in genuinely scary places, but you live here. Try not to focus on fear.”

We cannot and should not minimize the fears of those who struggle to survive. Very fortunately, for most of us, this is not our experience. The fears that haunt us are more likely to be fear of failure, of disappointment, of loss, or, surprisingly, of our brilliance that we hide from the world. I LOVE this Marianne Williamson quote “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our Light, not our Darkness, that most frightens us.”

As you make decisions today and this week, will you join me in asking this simple question, “Am I making this choice from a place of love, or a place of fear?”

Sharon Kathryn D’Agostino

Bio: I believe in the strength and inherent wisdom of families and communities when they commit to address the opportunities of gender equality, access to education, and financial empowerment of all. In this context, I continue to be a passionate advocate for the health, safety, empowerment, and education of girls, women & children globally.
I believe in the power of love, compassion and kindness, and know that if each of us commits to live these virtues, commits to be grateful, commits to forgive, we can shape a more compassionate world for all.
You can connect with me via Twitter at @SharonDAgostino, @AwakeningTrue and @SayItForwardNow
Blog: http://awakeningyourtrueself.com/blog/

On Facing Our Fears ~ with @HolisticSailor

Tags

courage, fear, spiritchat, spirituality

The subject of fear comes up in almost evey single #SpiritChat conversation, every single week. It often shows up as one of the responses to a question along the lines of “what prevents us from doing or becoming…”. So, when I invited our guest for this week, Tara (@HolisticSailor) to pick a topic for this week’s chat, I was glad that she chose to talk about “Facing Fear”. In her cover story on the subject, Tara writes…

Fear is uncomfortable but its avoidance can keep you from living a full life. Do we use fear as a crutch to not have to take responsibility for certain aspects of our lives? Or is it simply a result of wanting to control our environment and the people in it so that we are not faced with any unexpected situations?

Tara asks some great questions in her cover post, and tells a great personal story about fear and its consequences in her life as a sailor, an outdoor hiker, and her day to day life. I invite you to read her story about “Facing Fear”. After you read her story, visit with your own fears (you have some, don’t you?!), and put them in the context of your life right now. Then, join us for our weekly conversation on twitter as I host Tara as a special guest on the topic. Here are some questions that we may examine during our 9amET/2pmUTC hour on Sunday January 10th in #SpiritChat :

• Where does fear live in your body? How does it manifest?
• What has made you fearful in the past? How did you overcome?
• What does fear enable? How can it move us towards (loving) action?
• “Feel the fear and do it anyway…” ~ Agree or disagree? Why or why not?
• What is one lingering, lifelong fear that you would like to face, overcome?

Some resources on the subject of Fear, collated and shared by @HolisticSailor :

• Post  traumatic stress (PTSD)
• Five things I have learned about fear by Jill Richardson 
• The Mysteries of Fear – TedTalk by Lisa Cypers  Kamen – TEDxMalibu

Here is an introduction to Tara, in her own words (Also see http://holisticsailor.com for a lot more!)

My varied experiences and careers are like different coloured strands of yarn which are being woven into something that resembles art. I live on beautiful Vancouver Island, BC, Canada and blog about my experiences sailing and my knowledge of natural health. I currently work in higher education and am also a certified reflexologist, aromatherapist and Reiki Master. Oh, and I am writing a book.

Hope to see you on Sunday. Have no fear – there will be plenty of tea and cookies for all 🙂

Kumud @AjmaniK