You're Probably Right

“The way to get past a fear is to plainly confront it,” says Jim Dailakis. Jim is an actor, comedian, screenwriter and voice over professional. Jim says a young boy in Perth, Australia, his ambition was to be a comedian and make people laugh. He was good at it, doing great impressions of teachers, family members and friends but always thought that being a comedian was for comedians and he was just a kid from Perth and being a comic was not an ambition he should even consider.

Dailakis reminisces, as a boy he was inspired by the great movie Rocky. The lesson he took away from the movie was that anyone can do anything if they just start with a small step. Another movie called Dog Day Afternoon changed the life of Dailakis. Jim says when the movie was over he remained in the theater and pondered how a guy named Al Pacino could act like that. He did some research and found out what acting school Pacino attended and the wannabe actor/comedian took his first steps toward becoming his dream. At that point all he did was say he WILL attend that acting school in New York. How was not the question, all that mattered is the fact that he had the will.

Jim was inspired by the fact that Pacino himself was scared silly while shooting the original Godfather movie. The now legendary actor recounted in an interview how he felt vulnerable while doing the first shoots. After all, the production house didn’t want the no-name Pacino; only Coppola the director wanted him. Pacino threw caution to the wind and won the production studio execs respect. This little tale made Jim understand that the difference between people who make it and who don’t has a lot to do with self-confidence and patients – it takes a lifetime to master your brain and emotions. Your emotions will throw you under the bus if you let them.

Jim finds that every little step and accomplishment gets you ready and fuels the next step. There are many steps to get to the top of Mount Everest but it all starts with making a decision to go to the top. Even when the hiker slips and takes a step back the climber always looks up toward the top of the mountain. You never see a mountain climber look down, they always look up – they keep their “eye on the tiger.” When the air gets thinner and slope steeper and breathing difficult, those are the signs that you’re about to reach the top.

Now Jim can be seen doing comedy nationwide. In addition he’s currently juggling five different movie roles in front of and behind the camera. I guess whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re correct!

For info on Jim Dailakis visit: www.jimdialakis.com.

Why Do We Get Sick?

First, understand that all illness is created in the mind - even sickness that is said to be contagious or brought on from old age. Thoughts are very subtle, yet extremely powerful.

A person who thinks to herself, "My life is stressed," "I'm sick and tired of my life," I'm a loser," "God is going to punish me," will get sick – eventually.
Germs of the mind are as powerful, if not more powerful than the germs we find in a toilet.

Notice that many times when you have a cold you have something big coming up. Could even be something relaxing such as a vacation but if you stress about it, it wears you down and you get sick. Some people think they catch a cold from their friend who is sick. The mere thought, oh great, now I’m going to get this guys cold is the impetus to you coming down with something. Next time someone in your presence sneezes, think to yourself, I’m grateful that I have an amazingly strong immune system.

In Neal Walsch’s book, Conversations With God, he submits that many people create their illness because they love them. They use being sick to feel sorry for themselves and to get attention. Even the conventional western doctors are now seeing how people make themselves sick.

Most people do so unconsciously. When they get sick they don't know what hit them. They think they caught something, they never think they did something to themselves. Most people go through life totally unaware that they can create or destroy anything with their mind.

Do you know anyone who goes though life eating poorly and then wonders why they have coronary disease? How about people who are angry, harbor ill feelings toward another or toward themselves via guilt and end up having a stroke? The not so obvious truth is that most people worry themselves to death.

Walsch continues; worry is the worst form of mental activity, aside from hate. Worry is pointless. It is a waste of mental energy. It creates bio-chemical reactions to the body that create everything from indigestion to heart attacks plus a myriad of things in between.

One's health will improve immediately when worrying ends. Worry is the activity that does not understand its connection with God.

Hatred is the most severely damaging mental activity. It poisons the body, and its effects are virtually irreversible. Do you hate someone for what you perceive they did to you? Hate has no affect on the receiver, only the giver. Let it go immediately before it kills you!

Fear is the opposite of everything you are, and has an effect of opposition to your mental and physical health. Fear is worry magnified.

Worry, hate and fear all attack the body at a cellular level. It is impossible to have a healthy body under these conditions.

ALL illness is created first in the mind.

Why We Choose Fear

Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great people make you feel that you, too, can become great. –Mark Twain

What is the last thing your mother said to you when you were leaving the house? What's the last thing you say to your children? My mother always said and still says: “Be Careful!”

We are brought up and taught to take care because you don’t know what fate has stored around the corner. Because of this we live with a sense of fear looming in the background. We take that fear to our everyday lives and decisions. There’s always the “what if” quotient we have to deal with.

Wow, just think, what would you do if you knew you couldn't fail? Life would be very different, would it not? In high school, would you have asked the prettiest girl on a date? Would you apply for the position that had a responsibility of huge budgets and vast amounts of people? Would you have chosen a career that was more fulfilling and not just safe? Do you have a song still in you waiting to be sung?

Our teachers, preachers and parents have all told us to take the safe route. They love us and don’t want to see us get hurt or lose - although there is nothing to lose. If you think about it, it’s really them. They don’t want to have to deal with you losing or their perception of lose. Some just don’t want you to succeed either. Your success will remind them of their failure or lack of spirit. Some people just want to have control so they tell you that they know people who have tried things and failed or suffered. They breed the fear. Others don’t like change, even if its change in your life. They need to have you categorized and compartmentalized for their convenience.

We rarely are told of the people who took a chance, who took a left turn and succeeded. I love Robert Frost’s quote from the Road Less Traveled. I have taken the one less traveled, and that has made all the difference. I have lived by those words since high school.

Have you ever faced fear and made a decision that surprised even you?