BEATING FEAR WITH FOCUS

This is our last but one post on managing fear. This time around we want to outwit fear with unwavering focus. Let’s go! Let me tell you a story about Ama:

Ama thinks she is beautiful. She thinks that her heart is a good and beautiful one. She is even more confident when she looks in the mirror. Ama steps out and Kofi confirms that when he says, ‘Ama do you know you are beautiful? Very beautiful?’ Ama blushes and says, ‘I’m shy’. Ama feels good about herself. She now knows and believes she is a queen.

Now, Ama meets Afua the new girl in town. They exchange some Hi(s) and Hello(s). Over time Ama notices something; that every boy now looks in the direction of Afua. Afua is now considered the most beautiful girl in the neighborhood. Ama wonders why Afua catches all the attention. She wonders, ‘am I not beautiful enough? Don’t I have a nice stature?’ Ama begins to think a lot. She thinks, ‘maybe I’m not beautiful after all.’ She feels a little inferior and loses confidence in public.

Isn’t this surprising? A while ago she acknowledged her beauty, but now she doubts her beauty. Why is this so? Ama shifted from having the right focus to having the wrong focus. She initially thought she was beautiful because she looked at herself and the qualities she possesses. However, the moment she began to look at Afua, she forgot to acknowledge the fact that she had something in her cup; she forgot that she was once happy with herself. This may sound very basic but it’s the cause of most fear. If only you would be honest you would agree that some of your fears arise as a result of you looking outside at other people. It’s important that we look in the right place and direction. If you focus and look deep inside yourself, you would realize that;

•         I.            Maybe you don’t want a big house after all(you want a simple one filled with love)
•      II.            Maybe you don’t want to pursue that goal after all(because it’s not your soul’s desire-                you learnt it from someone)
•    III.            Maybe you don’t really want to be the top of your class(you just want to graduate with               a good class)
•    IV.            Maybe you don’t want that clothing after all(you like the simple one you have)
•      V.            Maybe all you want is a simple life of art, love and relationship all your life
•    VI.            Maybe you are happy where you are.etc.

The truth is that for most part you have been distracted from what you really want. And that has caused you so much fear and robbed you of so much joy. We shall talk more about this in a post titled: Freedom and Living later on.

Like I illustrated in my post on focus, one is faced with two basic distractions that may cause fear. These are: the distraction of other people (1&2) and the distraction of remainder. The result of these distractions is fear which leads to loss of balance and eventual loss of focus. If we want to avoid or manage fear we need to avoid distractions and if we want to avoid distractions, it is important that we look in the right places and directions; it’s important for us to have the right focus. I believe a little persistence in focus will help one to overcome the fear that arises from lack of focus. The five lessons of focus as explained in our post on focus are as follows:

Lesson 1: Know thyself, focus on thy strength and thy goals and believe in thy strategies.

Lesson 2: On the journey of life don’t look to your sides unless looking to your sides motivates and helps you.

Lesson 3: Look back to find courage and focus from how far you have come.

Lesson 4: Look forward to find inspiration only from your goals and target destination.

Lesson 5: Don't listen to the naysayers.

In conclusion, I believe that the awareness of the lessons of focus will help you starve your fears. Don’t look outside for anything, just look inside of yourself-listen to that mild voice from the inside. You have got all it takes. The moment you begin to focus on what you have got, every other thing including fear falls away. When this happens you are on your way to beating fear with focus. 

Check out the featured post on FOCUS for a deeper understanding of focus. I would love to once again remind you of your goal-2016. Feel free to share the thoughts running through your mind right now. Stay focused. Cheers!