"Once
when Marshall Ney was going into battle,
looking down at his knees which were smiting together,
he said, 'You may well shake; you would shake
looking down at his knees which were smiting together,
he said, 'You may well shake; you would shake
worse yet if you knew where I am going
to take you.'"
Orison Swett Marden
What or who
builds self-imposed barriers? A
stonemason named Fear, one who is highly skilled in building powerful barriers
from nonexistent stones. Where
does this craftsman live? In our
minds. He's always there, but it's
up to us whether he lives in the back of our minds or the front of our minds.
Fear is the
sworn enemy of adventure, which is perhaps the most exhilarating force driving
no-limits achievement. And Fear
goes exactly where we tell him to go.
We move Fear
from the back of our minds to the front of our minds by shifting our
concentration away from our own courage, and choosing instead to focus on that
which frightens us. Not only does
that action change Fear's location, but through the process of concentration,
it means we actually start to strengthen Fear. Fear has no strength of its own; its only strength is that
which we choose to give it.
When Fear
defeats us, it does so because of our own mental focus. And unfortunately, the strength we pass
along to Fear is the very strength we need to overcome it! If, on the other hand, we choose to
push our goals, wrapped in courage, to the forefront of our minds, then
barriers break.
You already
possess sufficient courage to initiate this process and see your personal
adventure through. A person may
not be born with an overabundance of talent, but he or she will certainly
possess all the courage needed, whether used or unused, to develop the talent
that is there. Long after passing
on to the next world, we will be remembered by family and friends, not
necessarily for our inborn talents, but for the amount of courage we used,
especially during our times of trial.
The strength and vividness of the memories our loved ones and friends
hold of us after we are gone will be directly proportional to the amount of
courage we have chosen to use.
Immediate
Action: Starve your fear! Feed
your courage! Embrace your
adventure!
Point to
Ponder: "Fear knocked at the
door. Faith answered. No one was there." (From above the fireplace at Hinds'
Head Hotel, near London.)
Excerpted from
Danny Cox’s book, There Are No Limits: Breaking the Barriers to Personal
High Performance. $14.99 plus shipping, MC/VISA
