"Doubt and fear are the great enemies of knowledge,
and he who encourages them, who does not slay them,
thwarts himself at every step." --

As A Man Thinketh
I've heard it said that we're born with only a few fears
-like the fear of falling and the fear of loud noises.

All other fears we learn along the way. Like the fear of
failure, the fear of rejection - even a fear of success.
I believe our greatest enemy in life is fear, because fear
keeps us from doing many of those things we would like to do
that would make our life more complete and more enjoyable.

Doubt is the first cousin of fear and precedes it.
We weren't born with doubt.
Our habit of doubt has grown throughout our life.
If we dwell on a doubt and give in to it, it then grows into fear.
The Apostle James reminds us that doubt makes us ineffective,

"a sea that is tossed and driven by the wind;
and every decision you then make will be
uncertain, as you turn first this way, and then that."

If most of our fears and all of our doubts are learned along the way,
then we can "unlearn" them by becoming masters of our thoughts.
I've heard Zig Ziglar quote Mark Twain when he said,

"True courage is not the absence of fear, it's themastery of fear."

The people who live the life of their dreams
have just as many fears as those who live miserable,
unfulfilled lives -they just learned to master their fears
instead of allowing their fears to master them.

Norman Vincent Peale, writing in "You Can If You Think YouCan",
provides us with a prescription for mastering fear and doubt.

"You can cancel out fear with faith.
For there is no force in this world more powerful than faith.
The mostamazing things can happen as a result of it...
there are two massive thought forces competing for control of the mind:
fear and faith, and faith is stronger, much stronger.
Hold that thought of faith's greater power until you believe it,
for it can be the difference between success and failure."

Ambrose Redmoon said that,

"courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear."

Everyone is afraid at some time or another.
Those who succeed in conquering fear have put their focus on
what's more important to them rather than on the fear.

If your young child darted into the street in front of traffic,
you'd easily overcome the fear of any physical danger
that retrieving the child would pose.

The child's life is more important to you than the fear.
So focus onwhat's beyond the fear - what's on the other side -
when you overcome the fear.

Brian Tracy has a great way to fight doubt.
He says,

"Don't wonder whether something is possible -
Over and over if you have to, but ask how can you do it, not whether you can."

And that's worth thinking about.

(excerpted from Day by Day with James Allen)