‘You don’t face your fears, you ride them.’ This might sound cheesy, corny coming from a character in a film who fancies himself being a tornado wrangler but is there truth in the saying?

Fear is something we’ve all experienced and will continue facing throughout our lifetime.

Whether its attending auditions, going up on stage, standing in front of a camera. We all sense fear in some respect.

And why is that? Because Fear is a fundamental primary part of who we are and we are actually incomplete without it.

If we can’t have an authentic relationship with it then we can’t expect to have a relationship with ourselves let alone with anyone else.

Fear is really a simple emotion, a discomfort in our bodies warning us of danger, and that it only has our own interest in mind.

The journey with fear starts with a simple question. Tell me which feels more true:

1. When feeling fear it means we have an unnaturally weak character and need to address that problem.
2. Or, if we feel fear, that means we are experiencing a natural, universal certainty that comes with being alive, for all sentient beings, from start to finish.

Just like the clever acronym for fear: false evidence appearing real. According to this, fear is a liar that must be challenged and questioned.

Everyone seems to be engaged in a worldwide slander campaign against fear.

By attempting to think positive, to outsmart fear and overcome it through various means, whether rationalising, breathing, or facing it head on, we are trying to outsmart the universe and the natural order of things.

What if we were to address the second answer that fear is indeed natural. Not something to outsmart or overcome or reason away. It simply is meant to be felt – much like love, sadness or joy and that’s it.

Michael Fasbender, the actor, says that he likes that fear is with him when he enters most jobs. If he doesn’t have that fear, he’s complacent and in his comfort zone, so he wants to be there. He wants to continue learning as much as he can. Fear for him is a healthy thing – it keeps him disciplined.

Can we sense it in our body and what that might feel like? To truly feel that fear is natural and normal when it shows up.

To start calling it by its real name if we want to be free. To learn to embrace this primary emotion as a positive, delicious part of what makes life worth living. This is the art of fear.

Shakespeare uttered there is nothing good or bad but thinking makes it so. With emotions there is no such thing as good or bad: there is only emotions.

But if an emotion feels uncomfortable in a way we don’t like, we call it a bad emotion. Fear is just fear; there is no good fear or bad fear. There’s only fear. Yet people treat fear far worse.

Therefore, it’s not fear that stops us; it’s our unwillingness to feel fear. That’s what stops us. Once we understand this, then and only then can we stop being a victim of fear.

its about acknowledging that life is supposed to be this way. Having fear shifts how we approach our discomfort. Seeking to look at, reduce, and redirect our resistance to it and arrive at a place of allowing things to be the way they are, including the horrible condition of being human, which includes sadness, pain, unworthiness, fear and more.

The lesson we must remind ourselves is that fear is an employee in our corporation and its doing its part to create the best possible us. It has our best interests in mind and is ready to make friends, whenever we’re willing and ready.

Holli Dempsey, when got her speaking role in theatre, upon stepping on stage as she delivered her lines, was sure she was shaking like a leaf in the wind, but afterwards, everybody told her how confident she looked.

This was a very valuable lesson for her: ‘people don’t see you as you see yourself’ she says. Once she came off stage, she instantly thought: “I’m so glad nobody stopped me going out there. When can I do it again?”

So,  the only question that remains is are we willing and ready?

Let’s make friends with fear and anything becomes possible.

We can’t change fear’s nature. Fear is never not going to be afraid. We can’t calm it down. We can’t let it go. Fear is a very old dog. We are not the authority on how it should or should not behave. Let’s give up all hope of ever controlling fear; only then we can start to feel and start to heal.

Henry Fonda was still throwing up before each stage performance, even when he was seventy-five and a well established actor. In other words, fear doesn’t go away. The warrior and the artist live by the same code of necessity, which dictates that the battle must be fought anew every day.

Forging a fear practice is so important. The quality of our life is actually determined by the quality of our relationship with it, and that relationship is entirely up to us.

Remember, fear is not the problem; resistance to fear is the problem. If it shows up, don’t resist the resistance; become resistance, for as long as it takes. Embracing or as it should be called – honouring.

Honouring the fear is how we’ll be able to prevent our old illness from coming back. It’s about honouring discomfort and it will take effort.

Let’s turn the false evidence appearing real into fabulous effective advice revealed.

Without fear, few of us humans, actually, would have ever amounted to anything. People who accomplish great things, then – make no mistake – don’t do them despite the fear; they do them because of the fear.

Ready to ride the fear?