False.Evidence.Appearing.Real dances onto my stage
I’m waking up for the second day in a row with a headache and stomach ache and “work on audio product” on my calendar. My first inclination is to stay in bed. I can do that because I’m the boss, right?
Wrong. I AM the boss, and the crew too, so there’s no one else to get the work done. And then the arguments start. “No one wants your stuff anyway. It’s not good enough. Just stay in bed and take care of yourself. It’s probably really a physical problem and you’re ignoring that.”
Fast forward 10 minutes and I’m writing this blog post, staying in the game, contributing and sharing. What happened? The 13 Steps to Radical Forgiveness. Fortunately, there’s another voice that usually speaks louder than the saboteur of sharing. That’s the one that knows that using the tools gets results. If I take action to use the tools instead of staying in bed, I feel better about myself, my mission, my contribution. I laugh at myself because the amount of energy it takes to listen to a 10-minute recording is pretty small compared to the results that I get. I’m encouraged to use the tools more often.
What popped into my head after the 13 Steps today was the acronym, F.E.A.R. that’s False Evidence Appearing Real. I had first heard that useful acronym from Jane Holmes, my bold and compassionate teacher at the Living Foods Institute in Atlanta, GA. Jane is a model for me of someone who steps out with what she has and grows into what she envisions. She shares boldly without waiting around for her gifts to be flawless and perfect. And because of that, her gifts ARE flawless and perfect because they are genuine.
So, what’s my False Evidence Appearing Real today? That my experience is trite and not worth writing about. That I’m not a good writer so I should stop it. That what I have to say has already been said and shouldn’t be repeated. That my work is not original and therefore not worthy. And what’s false about that? I need only look at Jane’s sharing of this acronym for counter evidence.
I learned later that Neale Donald Walsch had coined the phrase, False Evidence Appearing Real. But, for me, it had come from Jane who was bold enough, generous enough, and compassionate enough to share that little phrase even though it may be trite, she didn’t make it up, and it had already been said. For me, the reality was that none of that mattered. I heard it from Jane for the first time and it’s made a difference in my life!
There’s always the chance that YOU’RE hearing that one way to look at FEAR is False. Evidence. Appearing. Real. for the first time. And you got it from ME!
Want to meet Jane Homes yourself?
And for the 13 Steps to Radical Forgiveness by Colin Tipping