The Daily Love founder Mastin Kipp just published his first book, “Daily Love: Growing into Grace
For many people, fear stops them in their tracks. They see it as an alarm going off to warn them they should not move forward. But Kipp tells Elevated Existence he sees fear as the opposite. He views it as a compass directing us toward exactly what we need to do in order to grow.
“I always say unless you are in mortal danger, fear is a compass showing you where to go because there are teachers who will tell you to live a fearless life, and I think that’s B.S.,” he says. “I think we want to live what I call a ‘fear-full’ life because if you think about it, right before the most incredible times in your life, you were terrified. That is a sign you are growing. So I say follow the fear rather than making yourself wrong for being afraid.”
Moving past fear means finding enough strength in our heart to override what our head is telling us in order to keep us safe. While the heart calls us to tell the person we love them, leave the relationship, start the business, or move toward our desires, the mind is busy coming up with all the excuses of why it’s not safe to do these things, he says.
“All the things you have ever wanted to do are outside your comfort zone and by definition will make you afraid,” Kipp notes. “Fear is something very real that we have to deal with because it’s a biochemical response in the brain that gets triggered when we step into uncertainty.”
For the full interview, see our September 2014 issue.
Kipp challenges people to make a list of the top three to five things they are afraid to do in life – whether it has to do with fitness, romance, spirituality, business, wellbeing or even setting boundaries – and then take the steps toward doing the things on the list despite the fear.
“Most of my work boils down to, ‘What are the three to five things you are scared to do, and why aren’t you doing them?’” he says. “It’s a simplification of the work I do, but that’s really it. When people realize they have permission to do what they love, that the limiting beliefs they tell themselves are just the brain trying to keep them safe – and most of it is just B.S. – and they surround themselves with people who have achieved the outcome they want to achieve, miracles happen.”
To override the fear response and help us move toward our goals, there are a number of tools available, including meditation, yoga, EFT, tapping and more. Any one of these can help calm the fight or flight response so we can take what Kipp calls “courageous action,” which is taking action despite fear.
“We would never want to take the fear away because that is your opportunity to grow, but there are plenty of techniques you can use to calm down the brain so it’s more manageable,” he notes.
For the full interview, see our September 2014 issue.