Jim Carrey, Thanksgiving and Fighting Fear

I listened to Jim Carrey's commencement speech this weekend at Maharishi University of Management.  Given his comic genius, I didn't expect it to be so inspiring.  It included his signature, oddball humor, but he went well past that giving a very insightful message.  You can click here to watch it.

He discusses how we need to pray.  You could see his Catholic roots come through as he described it. We need to let the universe know our wants and needs and then let it go and let it come to pass.  Our job is not to figure out how to make it happen, but to have faith and  await for the door to open.  When the door opens, we have to be ready to walk through.  He says challenges are opportunities not obstacle.  We must rely on faith to see what it has to offer.

He finished the speech off by saying, "Choose love and never let fear hold you back against your playful heart."

As a small business owner here in Miami, Infusionsoft consultant and website designer, this got me thinking.  What decisions toward "love" have I taken to get this far? What fears have I overcome?

I recently  took a leap of faith bringing on a new project manager onto my team.  She's someone I met through BNI.  At first, I saw her as a competitor.  I wasn't sure if she was partner material or competitor.  She requested a meeting and the meeting clarified we had we had opportunities for "co-opetition."  We had some overlap in the services we offered, but not so much of an overlap that we could work together.

Later this past summer, she requested we meet again.  She told me was interested in a position on my team.  I had shared with my need to grow my team.  She took the cue and shared her resume with me.

As I closed another deal with a client in the Cape Coral area of Florida, I was on a long drive home.  I could see fear with a capital "F" raising it's head.

• "Can you afford this?"
• "Does she have the necessary skills?"
• "Can you take the chance on her with out further analysis, review, consideration?"
• "Should you interview more people?"

The orchestrated conversation in my head was the classic love versus fear conversation.   I really enjoy what I do.  I help people sell their services and grow their businesses.  I help people use the Internet to marketing their businesses.

I was also really tired.  Too much work.  Too many very early morning wakes ups.  Too much, too much too much had me spent and close to burn out.

It was an issue I needed to address and I could hold off on making the call, but as I reflected I realized it was hesitancy based on fear.

I am an engineer.  I am very practical, logical and analytical in my decision making.  I had to be honest with myself.  I was delaying this decision because of my fear.  Not going forward was fueled by my being fearful.

This isn't the typical blog article I write, but with Thanksgiving coming up next week I thought this would be something different.  I am very thankful that I have access to inspiring messages like Carrey's commencement speech.  I'm thankful that I'm self aware enough to capture the message being taught and see how I can apply them in my life.  I have so many flaws and shortcomings, but with faith I can leverage all that is perfect in the universe (and in my case my  God), to guide me and see that bounty set before me if I see with the eyes of faith.

Hope this helps!