I recently received an email that prompted me to answer a poll about what I feared most. I didn't reply to the email because my biggest fear at that moment was the fear of receiving more unsolicited email. However, I did start thinking about the subject of fear. What are we afraid of? What is fear? What can we do about it? We all have fears at one time or another and to one degree or another. I did a little research of my own and found that next to terrorist, fear of public speaking and fear of success ranked high on the list of things people fear most.

Fear of Public Speaking

According to one survey I read, many people fear public speaking more than death. Although most people are not aware of why they have a fear of public speaking on a conscious level, psychological studies have determined that nearly everyone who has a fear of public speaking experienced some major or minor trauma when they were younger that causes them to be fearful of public speaking as teenagers or adults.

Fear of Success

Another high ranking and common fear is fear of success. Success means achieving or accomplishing a goal. Success can mean the attainment of wealth, fame, power or whatever you truly desire for yourself. Success is a good thing. Why, then, are so many of us afraid of success either consciously or unconsciously? It is all about how we perceive success.

Instead of focusing on how good it will feel to finally accomplish our goals, we are focused on the negative aspects. Perhaps we have a memory of a successful person who was ridiculed for having "too much money". Perhaps we remember hearing that it is easier for a poor man to get into the kingdom of heaven or that successful people feel they are better than others. Therefore, we become fearful of what others may say and think about us if we become successful. We often sabotage our own success.

We are not afraid of success itself. We are afraid of what we imagine success might bring with it. We think we might or should feel guilty for having "the good life". We fear making our friends jealous and think they will no longer like us. We fear we are going to have to work harder to maintain our new status. We fear that we'll have to pay huge taxes. We fear that people will try to steal from us. We wonder what would happen if we were to lose our fortune.

A Powerful Emotion

Fear is an emotion and the symptoms of this emotion manifest in each of us in various ways. Some of the symptoms of fear are shallow breathing, sweaty palms, upset stomach, nervousness, headache, inability to speak, inability to think clearly, depression, uncontrollable shaking, inability to moved, and anger. People literally lose their lives and have been known to take someone else's life out of fear. All of the "isms" are the children of fear – racism, chauvinism, classism, sexism. Wars and crime thrive on fear.

Fear takes away our creativity, imagination, freedom and peace. Fear stops us from pursuing our dreams. Fear destroys relationships and can make us physically ill. These four letters, F E A R, represent the most powerful negative emotion that exists.

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