Don’t Let These Three Fears Drive Your Decisions

Remember the last time your response to a situation was based entirely on a spiritually grounded, selfless frame of reference, transcending ego-driven anxieties and fears for the sake of the greater good?

Neither can I.

I was speaking to a friend recently about better managing our spiritual selves in the midst of demanding work pressures, and how to avoid spiraling out emotionally. He said that people are generally driven by three fears:

1. Fear of losing what you have

2. Fear of not getting what you want.

3. Fear of being found out.

Now, take a little inventory of yourself, and tell me this isn’t true.

When you put it on paper like that and read it in black and white, well, it more or less makes us all look like paranoid psychopaths rather than the professional managers that we think we are. But there you have it.

I read recently that it is neurologically impossible for our brains to hold both fear and love at the same time. Like you can’t experience two emotional states at once. I don’t know if this is scientifically true, but it makes sense.

The point being, we have a choice.

Listen, we’re all a little paranoid. A little manic-depressive. A little narcissistic. We’re lopsided humans, that’s all, and our brains are wired to run to these dark, protective places when sensing a threat. The question is, though, are those situations that so captivate our thoughts really threats? Or just overblown drama stuffed between our little heads, the stories we tell ourselves?

We do have a choice in how to respond. This, by the way, is another thing that makes us human.

Rather than being driven by scarcity, how about seeing abundance?

Rather than trying to control every outcome, why not trust God’s infinite grace and mercy?

Rather than posing with power and significance, why not give in to who you really are?

It’s all there for the taking, folks. We have an infinitely loving, abundantly merciful God who has already given us everything we need to deal with what’s right in front of us.

So when we go into work today, let’s choose to act out of love, not fear.

That would be nice.

And I bet we’ll make better decisions, too.

Image thanks to Nance Davis.