Find more articles on: Grassophobia Aging gracefully Self-esteem and body image Self-esteem and self-confidence	SELF-ACTUALIZATION RESOURCE CENTER Personal growth • Self improvement • True happiness • Self-esteem "Overcome fear or fear will overcome you. Overcoming fear is never easy, but there really is nothing to fear but fear itself."	Find links on courage and overcoming fear: Free personality test
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Book Review: Embracing Fear -- And Finding the Courage to Live Your Life Thom Rutledge offers valuable lessons of overcoming fear for people overcome by fear. Buy from Amazon.com Reviewed by David Leonhardt, The Happy Guy Take a walk with Thom Rutledge 25 years ago, strolling across the campus of Austin College. Feel the cool breeze. And feel his fear, fear that didn't show because he had learned already how to cover it up. Embracing Fear is not the first book this therapist has written, but it is unquestionably a book that comes from his heart as he teaches through stories and experiences from his private and professional life. Whereas many write books replete with stories from "the couch," Rutledge draws on his unique qualifications as "an out-of-the-closet, recovering neurotic-depressive alcoholic psychotherapist." One gets the sense that this book is part of his own self-actualization, his own therapy to overcome fear: "In fact, the self-help gurus who write and teach from a position of 'Once upon a time I was as screwed up as you are' have always gotten on my nerves." The writing is nothing to get excited about, but it is clear, easy to read and accessible to a broad audience, making it an effective tool for overcoming fear. This is a calm man speaking through his keyboard, sharing a few stories and offering a few lessons. He offers four steps to transforming our relationship with fear: Face it. Explore it. Accept it. Respond to it. (The fact that the first letters in each step form the word "fear" is not at all coincidental.) Rutlidge is a great believer in action – that courage requires more than just a self-help book, but that we have to go past "understanding" to action: "Another block to progress in personal growth that can be attributed to our 'psychotherapeutic age' is our tendency to settle for increased insight and understanding of ourselves, but stop short of doing what we need to do to really manifest change." These words inspired me, as the author of a self-help book on happiness, to find ways to go beyond. In fact, his words were part of the inspiration for The Get Happy Workbook that helps readers develop their own personal action plan for happiness, as well as for Your Daily Dose of Happiness free ezine that helps readers stay motivated once the book is finished. All in all, Embracing Fear is a very thought-provoking book by an author with solid credentials. I recommend it to anyone who feels fear is holding him back from either his daily happiness or making an important life change and wants the courage to overcome that fear. Buy from Amazon.com You might also want to help make my happiness book a bestseller at Amazon.com Or search for the best self-help books about happiness at Amazon's Listmania program. David Leonhardt is The Happy Guy. For more tips on building friendships, overcoming fear, boosting self-esteem, expressing gratitude and reducing stress, pick up a copy of The Get Happy Workbook. Find happiness in his best self-help book on happiness Sign up for his daily happiness free ezine. Find happiness self-help books Personal development articles Media relations and free publicity ideas Personal Growth and Happiness-HOME | Daily motivation and inspiration - free ebook Search engine secrets | Humor column | The way to happiness: Happy Class Travel articles | Business articles | Family articles | Humor articles Back to top