Recognizing fear is one of the most powerful personal development skills. As mentioned in our post, “What is Fear,” we shared that fear is the negative emotions you feel throughout the day, and that these emotions are based off of your interpretation of the present circumstances.  Recognizing fear then becomes the watching of your emotions during the day.

Recognizing fear isn’t just noticing where you feel the most common fear-based emotions, the ones that cause you to feel threatened and afraid of bodily harm.  The process is much more than that.  Recognizing fear is the acknowledgement of your feelings, especially the ones that don’t feel good, and being able to determine if you are resisting them or not.  Or in other words, subconsciously, trying to bury them so that you don’t feel them.

Let’s talk about watching your emotions and being able to look at the deep feelings that you don’t normally think twice about.  Some examples of recognizing fear will help here.

People can relate to not being able to sit still and quiet for any long periods of time. (Have you ever tried it?) Most of us blame our addiction to technology such as TV, Internet, cell phones, video games, and more.  But did you know that there are deeper reasons why we struggle to sit still? It has to do with recognizing fear.

Sitting still makes us think, and when we think our minds are allowed to hash up concerns and reasons to worry.  No one likes to worry, as the feelings around it are unpleasant.  Essentially, we are afraid to listen to what our mind is saying.  Recognizing fear as the root of this simple example is a major learning step for everyone.  It’s much easier to escape into entertainment than having the courage necessary for recognizing fear.

Another common fear is meeting new people.  Almost everyone is concerned about their image and how they will be perceived by the other person, especially in dating.  Why do you think that is?  One answer comes from our grade school experiences, where we saw people making fun of others.  I’m sure you can remember either being judged or made fun of in some way.  It affects us all.  And many of us were actually the ones doing the judging.

Everyone wants to feel like they belong to the group.  With that comes the fear of not being a part of the group.  Now comes the challenge of recognizing fear in this whole process.

Recognizing fear for self acceptance topics can be quite a major task.  There are almost all emotions involved with it.  Being able to watch and identify the emotions you feel in these situations is another highly valuable skill to attain.  It will allow you to see how you react during the day to your emotions. You will eventually begin laughing at yourself more often as you see how silly you react sometimes to what you are feeling.

The process of recognizing fear now can be defined at the unburying of the emotions your dislike and are afraid to experience and feel during the day.  Being able to feel the uncomfortable emotion instead of burying it will create miracles in your life.

To your success in recognizing fear!