Cheeky indeed Stingray.

I think the main reason we don't reach our true potential is because as soon as we are born, we are taught to follow a certain behaviour pattern by our parents. We are taught what is considered good behaviour and what is considered bad behaviour and we are punished when we do bad things. So, we learn to behave in a way to please our parents since the early years, in other words we start seeking their approval.

As we grow up, I think this mentality stays and we seek others' approval for most things we do. And obviously, humanity has already established a set of rules and we end up following the crowd through fear of otherwise being rejected from society if we ever try and reach our true potential and be different from the crowd.

That is my opinion anyway.

Let's set something straight: Fear IS your friend. Period. It has so many positive connotations that it's sick. But we just haven't been thought to consider them. Why? One example is when a baby hits itself it starts crying. Most parents will take the child and start nursuring it, distracting it from the emotion it is experiencing at that MOMENT. They are probably doing it for all the right reasons. We don't want to see our children cry but we CAN'T save them from getting hurt. As one guy said " Why do we fall? To learn to pick ourselves back up." So instead of being aware that the kid hurt himself and BE, I mean BE concoiusly present with it, without trying to redirect it's attention to a diffrent subject, we might be hurting the kid more than tha minute longer it cries.

Why? Because then, with uor mental state being anxiety instead of peace, we project subconciously to the child, that crying is bad, that we have stop it for any cost. It starts a mechanism of the childs head as to how act in an instant of facing something hurtful. Upon lifetime of experience as a child, it may go into his teenage years and than adulthood with a belief system, that forces him NOT TO confront his fear, but instead find something to distract himself. That's why people do the things to their bodies that are so hirrific. When we feel emotions that we don't want we will get on a limb to find a way to distract ourselves fro acknowleding them. Be it drugs, alcohol, overating, smoking etc. You name it, people have done it. It's not their fault, they just been raised and taught that way. And not in a bad faith either. The parents thought thy were doing the right thing in fact scaring their kids for life.

Now that we are more aware of what is going on we are given a choice to acknowledge what emotions really are. We have been convinced that their are "good" and "bad" emotions. The truth is that they are not. fear can be as good as love. Why? It may stop you from jumping of a cliff. Isn;t that a good whing to have fear? But when it gets distorted that's when the troubles start.

Well if you consider that ALL emotions are VALID and ALL of them are here for a reason, you wouldn'e have so much trouble akcnowleding them. They are for that reason. And they are here to give us guidelines. If you feel excitement when you write a poem you may think to yourself :Oh that's pleasurable. I will do this more cause I like the feeling it gives me. I'm more hapyy. And it is "better" for us because it generates substaces like endorfines in our brains that make us like feeling in love.

On the other hand fear is scrutinized in our society. It is believed that it is somehow wrong to fear anything. That's why, most of the time, when we fear something we turn our face away from it, because most of the time we are ashamed of feeling it.

Well the truth of the matter is that fear is a beatiful conduit for you to make a choice of what you prefer. In it's natural state, when it helps you to save your live directly, it;s a very good thing. But in social situations? Being afraid to go and talk to someone you don;t know? How is it treatening to you? Well, it isn;t but your BELIEF systems tell you it does. And that's how it works: You have a belief about something -- you associate it with a feeling and bang! when it comes to the situation it automaticly triggers the "programmed" response. If the response is correct with your true state of being, your natural self which is made of light, you will respond with joy and happiness. If it is off, you will respond with fear.

So how does fear live? It lives in the BELIEF SYSTEM that isn'e alligned with your natural self. You see, your TRUE self isn't afraid of anything. It seas EVERYTHING as a challenge instead of a struggle. So to cut the fears life short ask yourself :Why do I feel the way I feel? What belief system do I have to have to react this way?

Once you have identified a belief it's gone. You have officailly let it go, because the fear was here ONLY for the reason of showing you what areas of your life to work on.

Now when it's gone you have to replae it with a belief system you prefer. It's as simple as that "ok, I know why i reacted that way. Now anytime I'm going to face the same situation I'm going to react this and that". And than, when the situation comes, you ACT as if new belief is in place and with that automaticly lock it in and make it your set response.

That's what I understand as fears life and I'm excited every time I encouunter one, because I KNOW it's here to serve me, to grow and expand. Threat it with respect but not as something that you can;t overcome. YOU created it and only YOU can let it go.

Nothing human fears life you want to reach an grab life by the tail if need be and go for the full explorations of it to the fullest as your own personal life an circumstances allow. For life can be the greatest pleasures through which all of our senses can explore and enjoy in that special human way. The God within full of love, peace, continment, undertanding, happiness, joy, good health, prosparity and oneness with the Lord.

There is so much to enjoy in life. Life is an wonderful extractions of ideas and creations of different prospectics of everyones environments. Now the fear comes in the form of introduction of evil, negativity and transformation of good energies into bad energies that moves as an cloud over people that don't have protected shield from God in place that they may absorbed into their auras without knowing.

We fear change. not life. the part within us that fears change, is the part programmed to alert us when change happens. it's not there to produce fear, it's just there to let us be aware of change and change ourselves according to the new situations. sometimes, we forget the cause of the alarm, and focus on the alarm itslef. we panic, feeze .. and the whole point is lost. fear is there to guide us, not to take control of us. but as beings with free will, we can turn things upside down. just like what you did to Eddie's insightful question. :)