To embark on the journey of self-discovery is a vastly important one. In fact, we believe it is the most important task that you could attend to in your entire life. The benefits to you would prove to be astounding. Not only does the exploration of self, benefit you, but immeasurably benefits those around you as well. Exploring the self enables us to be better, kinder, more empathic human beings and allows us to experience a deeper sense of joy, happiness, and contentedness. Looking at it from another angle, deeper self-knowledge will allow you to live your life free from all forms of negative experience. At the very least, journeying into the land of true self-knowledge will better equip you to be able to manage and fend off all forms of negativity more effectively and constructively.
​
We will delve down into the gory, nitty gritty parts of what makes us who we are. This is necessary when coming to know ourselves at a deeper level. It is only by digging through the ‘nuts and bolts’ that we will be able to arrive at the truth. The result of truly ‘knowing ourselves’ being that we come out the other end, no longer moving about the world, haunted by the demons that ordinarily would be lurking in all who have not embarked on the journey of self-discovery. We may be unaware of the demons that are haunting us, impeding our ability to live to our fullest abilities in all manner of ways. There may be demons that we are not aware of. There may also be those that we are fully aware of but are in denial of because they are too difficult to deal with. The result of both, is that we are taunted by our demons into eternity, impacting us and those around us for the worse. It is one of these demons that we will be discussing below. Let us look at the demon we call fear.
​
The ‘demon’ known as fear inhabits the body, mind, and soul of many. We must be clear dear readers that, we refer only to the emotion of fear and to no form of fear specifically. Fear makes its home in our hearts and souls, infesting our very being like a parasitic disease. Indeed, once it has made itself at home, it can prove a difficult one to exercise. We may not even be aware that this form of darkness has inhabited us. Fear does this to us on purpose as a defence mechanism enabling its own survival. Even when the very behavioural and emotional manifestations of such a darkness are quite clear to be seen by the very individual that fear has hold of, the individual does not recognise what these manifestations are signifying within them. This is, quite simply, the level of power that this form of darkness has over the soul.
Above, we mentioned external manifestations of the fear that resides with in many. Well, perhaps the greatest examples of these manifestations is a pervasive sense of pessimism that pours from the individual, colouring their impression of the world around them. Always, their body, mind and soul are saturated with the very worst that could possibly happen. Death, destruction, and chaos lurk around every corner. Evil and darkness might rear its ugly head in the individuals whose very being is infested with such negative energy.
​
Fear is quite clever you see as it plants, in the mind of its victim, the idea that they are under threat of life; or at the very least in some form of danger. Fear paired itself with humans’ instinct for self-preservation, means that the individual experiencing the symptoms of fear will do anything possible to protect themselves from the perceived threat that fear is causing them to experience. The result, the individual lives out their life in an avoidant and literally fearful manner, ensuring their own ‘survival’ against the perceived threats and thus enabling the continuation of the fear with in the deep recesses of the victim’s body, mind, and soul. Remember, fear infests the individuals entire being at all levels. It does not care about the individual it infests; its only concern is its survival. Fear is all encompassing end relentless. That is, until the individual infested by this demonic being begins the journey to explore self.
​
For purposes of clarity, we would like to divulge an example where it has been so completely clear to us that fear reigns supreme. Now, our example is not of someone specifically, but rather an amalgamation of many stories to provide an overall picture of what we mean. The story goes like this, ‘’I have worked here for many years now. I never intended to remain here this long and I never planned on working in this industry. But, if I leave, I do not know what else I could do and I would take a huge pay cut, and anyways, its too late now. I am too old to try anything else and I am not trained to do anything else’’. What is going on here dear readers, is that these individuals are being held captive by the dark entity that dwells with in their hearts and souls. Fear has them. Fear survives while the victim withers and is prevented from living according to their divinely ordained, authentic, and meaningful potential, that they were put on this earth to do; whatever that potential may be.
​
Now, here is where we get to the crossroads, bringing the different points together for clarification. The trick to living a happier life full of meaning and value, we need to delve into the great journey of self-exploration. To know one self, means to become intimate with your thoughts, feelings, emotions, behaviours and so forth; including the nitty, gritty ones. What we see as lacking with in many, is an absence of self-exploration, with the result being that these individuals are held hostage by their fears. Linking it to the example above – the individuals all the stories we have heard, are being held captive by the fear of factors such as fear of lack of money for example or fear of uncertainty i.e. I do not know what else I would do. The combinations of unexplored self, combined with the destructive power of fear, that lie with the individual create a recipe for a life of dissatisfaction, absence of a sense of meaningfulness, a lack of a sense of value or purpose to name a few. Life therefore is lived out in a faded shade of grey; the person exists as a shell of their fullest potential selves.
​
It is vital, dear readers, that you make the firm decision to face the fear that inhabits your heart and soul. You must make the firm and final decision that the fear residing with in you will no longer hold sway over your life. This is of course no easy mission. But as always, we feel it our duty remind you that the tougher journeys are the journeys are that are the worthiest and the ones that will yield the most reward – benefiting your body, your mind, and your soul; resulting in a sense of true contentment, deep and profound sense of meaning and value, having embarked in an authentic life journey, free of the parasitic disease we know as fear.
​
It is at this point, once we have dragged the fear lurking within us out into the light that we can replace it with something else to help us on our brand new, authentic direction in life. What could the antidote to fear be? Well…courage.
​
Why courage? Courage, dear readers, we can think of as the sworn enemy of fear. The antithesis. Where ever one of these thrives, the other cannot. One of them will always prove victorious over the other. Sadly, it does seem that fear more commonly claims victory over courage. Courage is one of the most crucial virtues a human being can adopt into their life. It is a virtue that once allowed into a person’s being, can open the door to an entire universe of possibility and opportunity when embarking on life’s journey. When met with courage, fear crumples in defeat for it has no form of weapon at its disposal apart from the devious methods it employs from the safety of the shadows.
​
We encourage all of you out there, to have the courage to drag your fear lurking within you kicking and screaming out into the bright white light of day. However, this battle is one worth fighting. Once you have successfully dragged your fear kicking and screaming out into the light, it withers into dust and vanishes into nothing. Conquer this darkness once and for all so that you may live out your fullest potential and take advantage of all the beautiful possibility and opportunity this life has to offer you!
​
We finish with a quote to summarise our call to action to you -
‘’The oak sleeps in the acorn. The bird waits in the egg and in the highest vision of the soul, a waking angel stirs. Dreams are the seedlings of reality’’.
​
-Napoleon Hill
​
​
TJC
​