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Laurie Cameron

Certified Coach & Master Certified Relationship Coach

The Journey From Fear to Love

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Weekly WAKE UP Call!

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April 20 , 2009

 

Fool's Gold = Fear's Gold

 

 

When I was a child, my parents took our family to Cripple Creek , an old Colorado mining town turned tourist trap. My strongest memory of that trip was of the shelf in the old drugstore that held rows and rows of small glass bottles filled with water and tiny flecks of bright, shiny gold! I was mesmerized!

My parents said it was Fool's Gold, with no more value than a few grains of sand. But it looked so beautiful and so real. I NEEDED it to be real. So much so that I spent $2.99 plus tax - a fortune for a 6-year-old - for a small glass bottle filled with water and shiny pieces of worthless rock.

 

In the adult world, Fool's Gold doesn't come neatly packaged in small glass bottles. It comes in a variety of different forms, and many are not that easy to recognize. We're constantly exposed to bright, shiny ideas and opportunities so appealing that we find ourselves wanting to believe they're real and right for us. We NEED them to be "the answer to all our problems." And we'll do anything and pay anything to feel better, thinner, richer or happier.

 

Fear's Gold

 

Sure sounds to me like these responses are coming from fear! We're afraid no one will love us if we're overweight, so we go after that lose-weight-quick program/book/DVD/class. We're afraid of being by ourselves, so we doll up, suck it in, go online, or troll the new-age bookstores hoping to find "The One" that will rescue us from our single-ness.

 

I'm not criticizing or bemoaning these behaviors or responses - honest! Heck, how do you think I know about them?

 

What I want to suggest is the importance of being AWARE that we have these responses in the first place and that they're coming from some fear we programmed in at one point in our lives, most likely very unconsciously.

 

Because we all have them. We all have fears that get triggered. We all have some part of our brain that's on emotional autopilot that reacts to programmed stimuli that drive our thoughts, words and actions. We all have our own "fool's gold" that we crave because we think/hope/pray it will fix/eliminate/destroy whatever fear we're experiencing in the moment.

 

You Cannot Change What You're Not Aware Of

 

Here's another idea - just BE with the fear. Allow yourself to feel it, look at it from different angles, toss it around a bit, hold it close, hold it at arm's length, talk to it, be open to what it has to say. Ask it where it came from, what message it has for you.

 

Here's another hint: definitely avoid labeling yourself: "I am afraid." Is this really the declaration you want to bring into reality in your life? Don't allow the fear to BECOME you or identify you to yourself and to the world.

 

The next step is to acknowledge the fear:

"I'm experiencing some fear in this conversation."

"I have some fears about making this change."

"I'm noticing some pretty strong programming come up when I talk about my relationship."

This is how you build your awareness.

 

The Gift of Free Will

 

This is the point at which you have the freedom to choose your response to the fear and the old programming. This moment of freedom is yours and yours along. No one can take it way from you.

This becomes the next point in time that you have the choice of staying stuck in your fear, or to move forward with more awareness and integrity. What choice do you want to make?

 

All this is about re-programming our old "gunk" that is no longer serving our highest good. It's turning Fool's Gold - Fear's Gold - into the true treasure: our gift of free will. This gift is our capacity to create our own future by learning from the past and making conscious choices in the present.

 

Here's your WAKE UP CALL TO ACTION:

Next time you feel fear bubbling up, STOP.

Give yourself permission to BE with it.

Notice how that one conscious act begins to alleviate the fear before you actually DO anything about it.

Then Celebrate your courage!

 

(c) 2009 Laurie Cameron. All rights in all media reserved

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