The word “FEAR” is also an acrostic for “False Evidence Appearing Real,” as the following tale demonstrates: Don’t give in to fears or they will overwhelm you. Take for example the small boy walking past a charming old churchyard on a very dark, but otherwise very pleasant, evening. When he walked along lackadaisically whistling a happy tune he was fine. But then he looked over into the churchyard and noticed the shadows and the grave stones, so he stopped whistling and quickened his pace. After a few strides his fear took hold of him and he suddenly got the urge to run, and as he ran his fear turned to terror – on what was, after all, just a dark, but otherwise very pleasant, evening! Let me say it again: If you give in to fear it will overwhelm you, if you give it an inch it will take a mile. Don’t do it. Don’t give it an inch. Instead, choose to control your fear and not let your fear control you.

excerpt adapted from Discover Your True Potential by R. Ian Seymour