Fear is everywhere you go, in every event, in every person. Turn on the nightly news and youll get an ample dose of daily fearmurderers on the loose, outbreaks of infectious diseases, terrorist warnings, dangerous weather conditions, tainted food supplies. And thats just the first fifteen minutes! You may as well assume the fetal position and stay in bed the rest of your life. That is, if you dont have a carbon monoxide leak in your home or an allergic reaction to dust mites. You can find fear in anything...if thats what youre looking for.

The media loves fear because fear sells more papers, attracts more viewers and gives them a captive audience. When a friend of mine shut off the dismal TV news at her dying Grandmothers house one day, her Grandmother quickly reprimanded her and yelled, Turn the news back on. I have to know if theres anything I need to worry about! She died about a month later. Control is the root of fear, often rendering the victim emotionally paralyzed. Many battered women continue to suffer at the hands of their spouses or boyfriends for fear of the consequences of an unsuccessful exit. Or, perhaps just fear of the unknown, a feeling weve all experienced around issues such as safety, money, relationships, health or salvation. (The fear of God has long been used as a tactic for religious groups to corral their parishioners into supporting their beliefs and contributing to their wealth.)

After having her home bombed, the lives of her children threatened, and her husband murdered Coretta Scott King (wife of Martin Luther King Jr.) could have easily chosen to live a more quiet, normal life, but just four days after her husbands death, she led a march of fifty thousand people and then continued to carry on his work as a human rights advocate, helping millions of others to choose non-violent means for social change.

Much of what happens in the world and in your life is out of your immediate control, but you do have control of how you choose to deal with these events. In a t.v. interview, actress Fran Drescher talked about her scary experience with uterine cancer. She says, I had my moments when I got very frightened that I would not recover. At night, when you do not have the distractions of the day, sometimes you connect dots that arent even there. But my friend Elaine very wisely advised me not to mix imagination with fear. Its a deadly cocktail. Fran survived her cancer, and later wrote a book about her experience (Cancer Schmancer) to help other women face their fears.

Imagine how much energy it takes to focus on the worse possible scenario of every day. Now imagine channeling that energy in a positive direction, making your life more fun, happy and fulfilling. While you cant change whats presented to you from your friends, family, community and the worldeither individually or through mass communicationyou can change how you react to itor dont. If its something that doesnt please you, choose to be a Goddess and rise above it, without stopping to visit.

5 Ways to Rise Above Fear

Try not to worry about things you cant control or things that might happen.

Detach yourself from the negative emotional hype of media news, or dont watch it.

If you feel threatened in any relationship, leave or seek help.

Visualize yourself bathed in protective white light wherever you are.

Remember there are two sides to every storyfind the positive one.