Battlecry of Love - 12 gurus share how they turn from fear to joy

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The Attitude Revolution is a revolution invoked and inspired by love. But when the going gets tough, sometimes we need a little camaraderie to pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and hold our heads high.

So I asked some of my favourite wellness and wisdom gurus how they do it. This is the question I asked them:

“What is your battlecry of love, your mantra of compassion that helps you turn from fear to joy?”

There are some incredible responses below, including some very practical strategies and tips that you can implement straight away to face joy.

I am so grateful to these experts  for sharing their wisdom. After you’ve read theirs, I’d love for you to share your wisdom too. Tell me in the comments below what your battlecry of love is.

CHARLOTTE ANDERSEN - AUTHOR & FITNESS GEEK

I like to remind myself “I am not ornamental!”  This encourages me to see my body for what it can do and my innate beauty instead of focusing on simply what it looks like.

I wrote a post about my motto

Follow Charlotte on Twitter or learn more about her at  The Great Fitness Experiment

CORBETT BARR - CREATOR OF THINK TRAFFIC & EXPERT ENOUGH

 It’s not about me. Whenever I’m scared or down on myself, I try to remember that success and joy come from turning your focus from ‘me, me, me’ to ‘what can I do to make someone else’s life better or brighter?’ Try that the next time you’re off track, because it’s not about you.

Follow Corbett on Twitter or learn more about him at CorbettBarr.com

LORI DESCHENE - FOUNDER OF TINY BUDDHA

I’ve never really thought about turning fear into joy, but rather understanding my fear, acting in spite of it, and trusting that whatever happens, I can benefit and grow from it. I may feel joyful as a direct result of doing something that scared me. Or I may find that the things I feared would happen actually happened-and as a result, feel a mix of emotions that may or may not include joy. If we knew fear would always give way to a positive emotion, we wouldn’t have fear to begin with.

So in answer to your question, my battle cry of love sounds something like this: “Life is uncertain. But I am willing to risk to feel truly alive, and whatever happens, I can handle it.”

Follow Lori on Twitter or learn more about her at Tiny Buddha

NAVJIT KANDOLA - FOUNDER OF TENDERLOGIC

While there are many techniques for overcoming fear, there is one exercise I turn to again and again. Most recently, I used this exercise to decide my travel dates around the time of the solar eclipse. I had read several articles about May 20th through June 6th being a time of great change, and those just happened to be the dates I needed to travel. I found myself envisioning earthquakes, erupting volcanoes, troubles with the plane - and persuading myself to cancel my summer adventures with extended family.

But instead of giving into my anxiety, I sat down to clear the fear, get focused, and make my plans. Now I will be traveling to Hawaii and the UK without any fears of instrument failure or volcanic eruptions! There is excitement and anticipation where previously fear was rumbling.

Here is the exercise:
Sit down in a comfortable position. Take a deep breath and close your eyes. Allow yourself to adjust to your awareness within.
When you are ready, take another deep breath and ask your body where it is holding fear. You may feel it or sense it. It could be your stomach or your foot – just take the first place that comes into your awareness.
What does the fear feel or look like? What is the fear communicating? Again, allow yourself to know it – become familiar with it consciously so that you can recognize it.
Now, ask that place in your body what color it wants to release the fear.
Take the first color that comes into your awareness and imagine it coming from the universe directly into the body part that is holding the fear. Imagine the color dissolving the fear. You may feel a shift or a tingling sensation. Take as much color as you need.
Once that holding space has cleared take a couple of deep breaths and open your eyes.

Follow Navjit on Twitter or learn more about her at Tenderlogic

CHIP CONLEY - BEST SELLING AUTHOR & HOTELIER EXTRAORDINAIRE

 I guess my battlecry has been to find meaning, even in the most challenging of circumstances.

During the dot-com bust when we were the largest hotelier in the San Francisco Bay Area (which was going through a depression), I turned to psychologist Abraham Maslow and reinterpreted his Hierarchy of Needs such that I came to understand that finding meaning in one’s work is the highest form of love or joy for a self-actualized employee.

And, then in this most recent Great Recession, I turned to another psychologist, Viktor Frankl and his iconic book Man’s Search for Meaning, to help me understand that despair and meaning are inversely proportional and could be summed up in the equation: Despair = Suffering - Meaning.

So, I guess my lifeline in the roughest times is to find wisdom from some of the greatest psychologists the world has created in modern times. The most neglected fact in business is that we’re all human so it’s not surprising that leadership is located at the intersection of psychology and business.

Follow Chip on Twitter or learn more about him at ChipConley.com

AMY LAYNE - BODY TRANSFORMATION EXPERT

This is my take on a beautiful saying given to me by one of my favourite teachers Dr. Michael Beckwith…

“I am available to more good, more abundance than I have ever witnessed, thought about, heard or manifested before. I know this is so and I let it be now, and forever more. So it is. Thank you”

Follow Amy on Twitter or learn more about her at Damy Health

AMANDA GORE - BEST SELLING AUTHOR & MOTIVATIONAL SPEAKER

It’s about being grateful - that is the secret to overcoming most things - fear and doubt included!!

Follow Amanda on Twitter or learn more about her at The Joy Project

CHRIS GUILLEBEAU - WRITER, EXPLORER, NON-CONFORMIST

Deliver! Finish! Get something out to the world.

I know that if I do, I’ll end the day with a sense of accomplishment. If not, I’ll be disappointed. 

Follow Chris on Twitter or learn more about him at The Art of Non-Conformity

RHONDA JURD - PHYSICAL, EMOTIONAL & SPIRITUAL HEALER

My mantra is “The most powerful thing I can do to change the World is to change my own beliefs to something more positive. I am love, I am kindness, I am joy.”

For those times when fear has a hold on me, I just love the “Inner Smile Meditation”. It is very simple and yet fairly effective, depending on the depth of fear present.

The inner smile meditation is as simple as thinking of a place, person, pet or situation that makes you smile. Keep thinking of the thing that makes you smile, until you can feel the smile very strongly. Then imagine you can move that smile anywhere you like in your body. You may feel the smile in your face, head, neck, arms, chest, belly, pelvis, legs and feet. You can even send the smile to different organs in your body, especially if you wish to heal or strengthen these areas.

It is a very gentle and kind way to love yourself and your body and to shift stubborn fear patterns.

If the fear is very strong, I would normally recommend long, slow, deep breaths to feel the fear on the inhalation and wash it out on the exhalation. Imagining gentle ocean waves can be very healing for washing the fear out of the body/mind. I would also strongly recommend grounding exercises to bring your spirit back into your body, such as imagining drawing a kite back into your body via your crown chakra (top of head) and a heavy anchor to bring your spirit down into your torso, legs, feet and Mother Earth. We feel less fearful when we are grounded.

Learn more about Rhonda at Ocean Star Healing

SCOTT DINSMORE - PERSONAL FREEDOM COACH

Everything was impossible until someone did it. I find the people who do the impossible and spend as much time as I can around them. Before long it becomes the new normal.

That has led to so much success. 

Follow Scott on Twitter or learn  more about him at Live Your Legend

ALEXIS DENNEHEY - FOUNDER OF ONE NATURAL THERAPIES

It’s the first time I’ve put it into words, but it would have to be a combination of coming into my whole experience of what is now and a sense of what my experience of myself will be when facing death.

In a nutshell, “This is what is, and this too shall pass”.

 

Learn more about Alexis at One Natural Therapies

DANI PEPPER - HOLISTIC HEALTH COACH

When I find myself in a place of fear I always find that the right affirmations and words of wisdom come to me but the most powerful ones that I keep close to me are…
“When you want something you’ve never had, you have to do something you’ve never done” I’m not sure who said this but they were a SMART person! This was the most integral quote that came into my life and helped me start shifting my thoughts and my life, actually this quote helped me CHANGE my life & it’s never been the same since. But the quote I live my life by is “I can’t control my destiny, I trust my soul, my only goal is just to be. There’s only now, there’s only here. Give in to love or live in fear. No other path, no other way. No day but today” - Jonathan Larson

Follow Dani on Twitter or learn more about her at Destination Wellness & Wellbeing

Now it’s your turn to share your wisdom. What is your battlecry of love?

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