This is good and powerful topic. Thanks, Phoenix.
I think fear is the number one factor in coping with life in general and used to paralyze me. Or I let it paralyze me. I had to write down what I was going to say to authority figures in advance and couldn´t sleep.
I took courses on fear management held by Adult Children of Dysfunctional Families and there I learned to my amazement, that fear is always there and will always be there, but it´s how we deal with it that matters. Otherwise, fear is useless. Quite stupidly, I thought some people were just fearful neurotics like me or had great courage.
There are so many things we can do to empower ourselves. I find it great you are taking Karate courses with you son, Phoenix. It will empower you both and it´s great for self-esteem. My nephew who is ten took Karate lessons because he´s been picked at at school. He feels much better now and I believe Karate has helped.
I took Kung Fu lessons for a while. Oriental self-dense is the best, because it teaches you spirituality as well. You learn respect for your opponent and for your fears. I should continue, but right now I stay with yoga as I´ve been down.
Fearful feelings are like clutter and dust and it feels great to clarify. I like to visit the Dalai Lama temple in the East suburb of Paris I´ve mentioned and talk to the monks. I meditate in the special mediation room and there I get close to my Higher Power. Afterwards I love to walk in the forest along the lake because in nature I get my source of strength.
I remember an old lesson from Tibet on fears. It´s call The Room of Thousand Demons. You visualize yourself on a top of a high building and when you look down you see snakes, scorpions, demons. The art is to put one foot in front of another, to move like water and get across, no matter how afraid you are.