In his first inaugural address, in 1933, U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt said, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." Starting with this sort of thinking, FDR proceeded to take the series of planned actions that broke the back of the Great Depression, bringing vitality back to the U.S. economy and the economies of many nations around the world [including Canada’s economy].  

FDR was one of the most-influential leaders of the 20th Century. FDR understood people. FDR understood the power of positive thinking backed by decisive action.

While his words "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." have puzzled many people, FDR knew what he meant and when he took decisive actions in the form of 'fireside chats' about what to do with money & banking the American people quickly understood how to bring about positive change. FDR understood fear and he understood how fear could be mastered. 

Perhaps FDR thought along these lines...

Fear is a necessary part of life. It is not a ‘necessary evil’...it is not a burden we have to bear in order to have the opportunity to more fully appreciate the good parts of life. We should not look at fear in that sort of light.

Rather, we need to accept that fear contains value.

Yes - in excess fear can debilitate or craze, wreaking havoc. But, fears do not have to become excessive. We have the power and ability to make choices that limit and remove fear-damage.

The key is to face each fear and nip it in the bud, before it swells to excessive proportions/perceptions.

When faced and nipped in the bud, fear educates and serves as the catalyst that triggers courage. When faced over time, fear can be a vital part of the process for building self-confidence. Fear, properly faced and nipped in the bud, is the fundamental building block for strong character and influence.

Perhaps fear is a necessary precursor to, the essential ingredient for, true self-confidence. That seems to be an accurate description of one key role fear plays in our lives, the other key aspect being self-protection.

Fear protects.

Fear is at the roots of strength of character.

Really, considering the positive roles fear alone serves better than all other mindsets combined, we do not have to fear fear. We simple have to muster the conviction to work through our fears.

The key thing: we need to understand how fear affects our energy. Is it killing our energy? Is it kindling or sparking our energy? Shun the former. Embrace the latter.

I believe the purpose of life is to learn.

I believe the reason for learning is growth, which takes form as the wisdom needed for personal development, the wisdom needed to understand and constructively interact with other people, and the comfort that comes with a confident relationship with self, others, and The Universe.

I believe the sequence of learning is important:

• first, we must learn about self,
• next, we must learn about other people, and
• then, we must learn about the spiritual.

For most of us, perhaps for almost all of us, the order of learning is disrupted very early in our lives. Perhaps, for many or most of us the disruption starts the very instant we are born. Our learning is disrupted by well-meaning parents, our learning is disrupted by well-meaning figures of authority, and our learning is disrupted by other not-so-well-meaning people and by ignorant, self-serving, and malicious people.

The point is, the order of our learning is disrupted early in our lives.

So, we must at some point in our lives take responsibility for our learning.

By definition, tangents are small things: the tiny beginnings of deviations from the path; by definition, tangents are mini.

Over time, the mini-deviations we make and take from our desired paths grow and the distance between where we are and where we expected to be increases.

Over time, mini-tangent become mega-tangents: this is the law and the nature of tangential things.

Over time, small deviations become enormous disconnections: the prior path becomes less recognizable as it shrinks away.

Tangents, the mini-ones, are the first illustrations of new things...People do only 3 things - good habits, bad habits, & new things.

Tangents, again the mini-ones, are the first steps of change...in nature, for the most part, irreversible.

Tangents, those mini-tangents, are the seeds that sprout the roots of our habits…they are the new things that become either our good habits or our bad habits.

Tangents: this basic geometry governs everything from our daily play to the success of our lives.