I could write an entire book called, "Things I Feared That Never Happened," and follow that up with a second book entitled, "I Feared The Wrong Things."
Almost always, fear is a waste of time.
Most of the things you fear will never happen, and you fear the wrong things.
When the hobglobins of fear start dancing in your mind, it's time to refocus on other things.
Fear is all about focus. When you focus on fearful thoughts, they grow stronger in your mind.
When you focus on powerful positive thoughts, fear heads for the emergency exits.
You can never win an argument against fear, but you can flush it out with a positive focus.
It's always a mistake to argue with fearful negative thoughts because you only increase their power.
Indulging in fearful fantasies is self-destructive and always makes your life worse. Don't do it.
A positive focus moves you in the direction of your dreams, and at the same time, squelches the voice of fear.
It's time to say good-bye to problems that will never happen and to stop fearing the wrong things.
Fear should be a warning rather than a way of life.
Unfortunately some people adopt a fear-based existence, and fear becomes a major driving force in their lives.
Most people fear the wrong thing, which is not surprising since their are so many voices out there telling you that you should be afraid.
Advertising loves the gospel of fear because it sells.
Fearing the unlikely and the absurd is largely a waste of time and energy and misdirects your focus. In most cases, the thing that you fear is not the enemy. It is fear itself that is the real problem.
During the Great Depression, Franklin Roosevelt told the American people that they had nothing to fear except fear itself.
Today things are different.
A new culture of fear runs rampant in western democracies, and politicians who should be telling people to not be afraid are using fear to manipulate and control the populace.
Something is wrong with this picture, and I'll explain why.
I have a healthy respect for sharks when they are in feeding frenzy, and if someone is spear fishing, I get out of the water, but I'm not afraid. I'm simply using my God-given common sense.
I know it's not difficult to stay out of harms way when I make a visit to Shark Land.
Certain types of behavior on my part may create aggressive behavior on a shark's part.
Nevertheless, I shouldn't blame sharks for their aggressive behavior, and instead, I should stop doing things that make them become aggressive.
It would be stupid for me to do things that create aggression, and then expect sharks to remain docile and disinterested.
The reason I'm not afraid of sharks is because I don't do things that place me at risk for shark attacks.
I lived outside the USA for a quarter of a century, and sixteen of those years were in the Middle East. During all those years I wasn't afraid. There was no reason to be afraid because I didn't engage in behavior that placed me at risk.
Innumerable times fearful people have told me how dangerous it was to live in the Middle East, how perilous it was to sail through the Malacca Straits, and how sharks wanted to take me out to dinner, and they are right. Half-truths and quarter-truths are the currency of fearful minds.
The Middle East is dangerous in specific small restricted areas, and the same is true in Miami and New York. I wouldn't go into a Seven-Eleven convenience store after ten o'clock at night anywhere in the USA. I know of people who died in a convenience store at night.
The last time I checked, 35,000 people were killed with guns in America in a single year. Homegrown violence in America is appalling.
Do you remember Columbine?
So what is more dangerous, living in the Middle East or in Middle America?
The answer is that both are dangerous if you engage in behaviors putting you at risk.
Even with the handgun carnage that happens every day in America, I'm not afraid to live there because I know how to stay out of harms way.
I sailed up the Red Sea for two months and had an enjoyable trip, and I would like to do it again. The Red Sea has wonderful diving, and good people live in all the countries around its shores.
Everywhere I go in the world, 98 percent of the people are good honest citizens, and there is nothing to fear from them.
I have traveled extensively in Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, Sudan, Eritrea, Oman, the Emirates, and Israel, and I have always been treated with respect.
Without exception, the only time I have been treated rudely was in large cities by citified folks who were in a hurry, and who are rude to everyone, not just me.
Every place I visit on planet earth is extremely dangerous when I do things that put me in harms way. At the same time, every place is extremely safe, and there is nothing to fear when I turn on my brain and use it. That's why God gave me a brain and programmed it with common sense. When I turn on my brain, I can go almost anywhere I want without fear springing up in my heart.
I'm not immune to fear, and I'm not a brave person, but at the same time, I don't let fear rule my life.
I sailed around the world for eleven years on my yacht and traveled where many people fear to go. I discovered that Franklin Roosevelt was right. The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.
In spite of sharks and their rows of fearful teeth, life still is good.
Many times I felt like I had taken things to the limit, but on further examination, it was clear I simply had enough. I was done and was unwilling to do whatever it takes to continue. Hitting the wall of absolute limits has never been a problem. The envelope of possibility is infintely large, and the likelihood of encountering absolute limits is infinitesimally small. There are no limits. There are only limiting beliefs.
In the grand scheme of things, my grand schemes seem fairly insignificant. In a global sense it's easy to feel as if my life counts for nothing, or at most, counts for little. When someone tells me that I shouldn't be doing things that are important to me, and that I'm wasting my life, they are really saying that my dreams don't count in their scheme of things.
I am a daktari without borders. I am not sure when and where borders disappeared from my mind, but sometime in the last quarter century, I became a citizen of the world. Wherever I am on planet earth, I feel at home in my borderless world. Find out what it's like to live without borders.
When my life is over and on judgment day I stand in the final line up with all the rest, I hope millions of people can point their finger at me, pick me out of the line up, and say, "He's the one. That's definitely him. He's different from the rest. He didn't conform, and he is guilty of living his dreams.
Everything is a miracle, and every day you are totally immersed in the miraculous. From the top of your head to the tip of your toes, you are a miracle. From the day of your birth until the day of your death, your cup overflows with the miraculous. Don't trade the miraculous for the merely clever!
You are never safe from negation. Unchecked negativity can rapidly flush the achievements of a lifetime down the drain. If you ever reach your dreams, it will be because you stopped listening to the voice of fear and negation. You stopped looking at your limitations and stopped constructing barriers that exist only in your mind.
The envelope of possibility is infintely large, and the likelihood of encountering absolute limits is infinitesimally small. Although the envelope of possibility is exceedingly large, it is equally true on a personal level the envelope of possibility is only as big as you believe it to be.
For me, the dream is all about adventure, freedom, and being really alive. Although I like seeing the sights wherever we go, I think it's the sense of adventure coupled with the freedom to do what I want to do with my life, seasoned with a pinch of adrenalin that makes it all worthwhile.
The first step in moving toward your dreams is to doubt your limits. Once you doubt your limits, it's almost as if you are born again. You get an entirely new life with radically different rules of engagement. You enter the Promised Land of Imagine, Believe, and Receive. I know this to be true because I have been there.
WHO IS DR. DAVE AND WHY IS HE BLOGGING?
More than two decades ago, Captain Dave (aka Dr. Dave) started writing and creating websites as he sailed around the world on his sailboat, SV Exit Only. Those early websites and books evolved into the Positive Thinking Network you see today.
Captain Dave lived overseas for twenty-eight years in his globe trotting lifestyle until he became a Flying Doctor with the Indian Health Service working for ten years in the American Southwest flying out to deliver health care to the Apache, Hopi, Hualapai, Havasupai, and Colorado River Tribes.
Dr. Dave completed his work with the Indian Health Service in Arizona, and now runs the Positive Thinking Network full time either from his catamaran or his Land Rover Defenders as he travels around the world
The Positive Thinking Network has a global outreach sending a positive message to 196 countries, and it is your definitive source of positive thinking on the World Wide Web.
With hundreds of positive websites, and more than a million pages and podcasts downloaded each month, it's where you come to learn everything you want to know about positive thinking. The Positive Thinking Network focuses on positive self-talk, positive spirituality, winning the battle against depression, PTSD, and positive adventure.
Hundreds of family safe websites stand ready to fill your mind with positive things.
Dr. Dave and the Positive Thinking Network work around the clock to change the world, one person at a time, one web page at a time, and one podcast at a time.
