Facing Fear
How much of your life has been dominated by fear? How often does fear step in and say ‘no don’t – it will make you look a fool or it is dangerous?’ Imagine if fear had turned up as you entered the birth canal. Imagine if it say – ‘no don't! - It's dangerous out there and that birth canal can squash your head. It is better that you stay in here, it is warm, it is safe.’ Hmmm and that is the moment life truly begins. We have the courage to be squashed and released into the world to experience life and what an experience it is. The thing is we all experience situations or circumstances that hurt us and we develop fears. Those fears accumulate over a life time. They make are concerned, they protect us but irrational fears inhibit us.
Now the reason that I write this is that while I was on holiday in Thailand and faced one of my greatest fears, that fear had been caused by an incident 15 years ago. So let me give you an insight: it was 2001 Egypt, Sharm El Sheik to be exact. I had just completed my PADI open water diving exam and passed (yippee). Anyway my first dive as a diver proved to be an experience that I would not wish on anyone. While I was about fourteen meters down my air cut out. My buddy was a little ahead of me and it was at a time when there was not a spare breathing piece on each tank. At the time I knew that if I panicked it would result in death. I calmly swam to my buddy and let him know and we shared air and gradually ascended to the surface. However, I was concerned his air would run out too. The chatter inside my head went completely loopy saying things like ‘see don’t put yourself in danger.’ ‘You knew this would happen…’ Then the cycles of negative thoughts played round and round. Anyway we surfaced and made it back to the boat. I then heard tales where there had been far worse repercussions. After that experience was it a surprise that I did not go diving again?
So last week I was in Thailand with a great friend of mine who at the age of 56 is retraining as a dive instructor. This woman’s attitude to life is inspirational and nothing is impossible. She teaches people to fly gliders. So as part of our holiday we popped into a dive shop to arrange her next dive. She turned to me and said I am surprised you haven’t done your diving exams since you surf, paddleboard, row and basically want to be a mermaid. I said that I had and said I had lost my diving card. Well the chap typed in my name into the computer and there I was – PADI registered. I just needed to do a refresher. It was at that moment that I thought well I can run away from this or I can face this fear. I explained what had happened and that I had not dived since. The chap was surprised and very sympathetic and said that he would make sure that I was given the most experienced and empathetic instructor.
The next day I went through my refresher and faced my fears, faced the voices of complete terror in my head and had the most spectacular dive. It was beautiful, I wondered why I had waited so long. The whole experience made me contemplate fear and its uses. It protects us, it keeps us safe and stops us sticking wet fingers in plug sockets. Yet there are other times it holds us back in life. It stops us truly experiencing. It also reveals the conversations in our heads that limit us. Now the funny thing was the night before the dive I asked myself the likelihood of the same situation repeating itself… If it did it would be uncanny. I also read the whole PADI open water book in an evening. I then noticed that each breathing set had two mouth pieces. I would be diving with two people and an instructor - that in itself gave me three options if things went wrong. I have to say I felt much better once I had rationalised it all. I did email my parents and brother and told them I loved them just in case my number was up. It was not and I now love diving again!
With all the above in mind, what are your fears? What are you avoiding experiencing in life because of fear? What are the fears and how will you face them? I have to say by facing that fear I felt liberated and realised there was so much potential to experience. I then considered what other fears I should face. I then remembered that I had not been horse riding since my horse bolted and threw me onto an electric fence… Oh dear!
You can find my books at the following link: Ruby Allure books on Audible:
The one that is making a big impression at the moment is MONEY FARM
LINK: http://www.audible.com/search/ref=a_mn_mt_ano_tseft__galileo?advsearchKeywords=money+farm&x=0&y=0
How do you feel about the value of your life being based on the amount of money sitting in your bank? If we are all inter-connected by money, then why do so few people pay attention to how money works? Fear and denial are perfect for generating debt and that is what the world is run on. Now imagine, if in the future, one financial institution became so powerful that it could choose to eradicate the present monetary system. Then what happens?
LINK: http://www.audible.com/search/ref=a_mn_mt_ano_tseft__galileo?advsearchKeywords=money+farm&x=0&y=0
AUDIBLE BOOK AVAILABLE HERE:
LINK TO BUY ON AUDIBLE:
LINK TO PAPERBACK ON AMAZON.COM
THE LINK TO THE OCEAN CALLINGS: http://www.audible.com/pd/Sci-Fi-Fantasy/The-Ocean-Callings-Audiobook/B01C4OOOEW/
Come on admit it - as much as we deny it - we ladies like a good love hunt.
We have tick lists, ideals, and we hunt in high-heeled packs. Of course, we're all hunting for that elusive right man who ticks every box and even has tidy nostril hair. Okay maybe not you, but you know other ladies who love the hunt.
Well, it's time for Eva and Gracie to love hunt, and their "targets" are rich men - the golden sperm. Such exciting escapades would provide the pair with entertaining discussions during their dull office hours - or so they thought. What they did not anticipate was the discovery of the "booby man"; humorous but very hard truths about wealth, themselves, power; and the RichIdiot.com phenomenon.
The question remains: can love really be hunted?
The Love Hunt has returned. Gracie is back on the dating horse after a huge fall in her first tick-list-tastic love hunt.
Her new dating adventures take her and Eva into the depths of "the love game".
In the meantime, Eva, the ultimate Russian gold digger, has come to the conclusion that her poor "village idiot boyfriend" will never be enough. He will certainly not pay off her accumulating debts. She needs a rich man, and that means rich idiot dating.
In The Love Game, Eva and Gracie travel the journey of extreme love learning. On the way, they will discover their love and lust lists, their intrinsic issues, and experience some hilarious and jaw-dropping dates in pursuit of the wealthy ideal.
All of this in the pursuit of love.
The Love Hunt II is on!
