If light is love, than fear is its shadow

― L.J. Vanier

The opposite of love is not hate. It is fear.

There are only two basic emotions people can express, and those two emotions are fear and love. All other emotions are subcategories of these two. If there is love, we may experience peace, joy, contentment, serenity, and forgiveness. On the other hand, when there is fear, we feel anxiety, sadness, depression, fatigue, judgment, guilt, and so on. You see, where there is love, fear cannot survive, and where there is fear, love cannot survive. They can’t live together.

Love is within us. We were all born with this emotion; it was given to us. As time went by and we started developing as individuals, we started creating a new world for ourselves, a different world. This world—based on our unpleasant past experiences, misfortunes, wounded childhoods, dysfunctional environments, or misleading social and cultural influences—is nothing more than illusion. This illusion that was created in our mind keeps us in our comfort zones, common places with familiar people and circumstances that prevent us from entering unknown and uncertain futures with enigmatic and obscure possibilities; our comfort zones holds us back from reaching success, attaining happiness, or allowing personal growth and development. It is fear.

Love and fear are two motivational forces in life. Every major decision we make as human beings is based on either love or fear.
We quit jobs and start our own companies out of love: for product, a new industry, or just an idea about how something could be done better.

• We get married out of love despite cultural and religion differences or family disapproval.
• We stay in jobs we don’t like out of fear that we can’t make a living elsewhere or of what will happen if we change.
• We move to new jobs, new places, or new relationships out of fear of what will happen if we stay.
• We marry the wrong people out of fear of being alone.
• We get involved in multiple shady businesses out of fear of missing out.

 

The decisions we make from love are the best decisions of our lives, whereas those we make from fear are usually the ones that hold us back. 
So use this litmus test whenever you face a decision: are you operating from fear or love? 
If love is stronger, you will know it immediately because in general your life will hold a measure of inner well-being, self-assurance, confidence, and peace. Love-based intention and action create more love, joy, happiness, and abundance in your life. The more you are kind to others, the more the universe will manifest opportunities for you to give and receive blessings.

Being ruled by fear means that there is a negative charge to your daily life. It means—in simple terms—that you are not confident that you will be fine no matter what occurs. In other words, you are fearful of some things happening essentially because you believe that if those things happen you will suffer. Fear- based intentions and actions create opposition, competition, and enemies. The stronger you believe in your fear, the stronger the opposition and competition that will manifest from the universe to test your strength.

Choosing love doesn’t mean you will never fear again. In fact, it means that many of your fears will come up to be healed. This is an ongoing process. Remember that you will experience fear after you’ve chosen love, just as we become hungry after we eat. We must continually choose love in order to nourish our souls and drive away fear, just as we eat to nourish our bodies and drive away hunger.  
Love, and especially self-love, has to do with confidence, with caring for yourself and knowing that because you care for yourself, you are able to handle things as they arise in your life—even when those things are difficult or painful. This kind of love develops the firm inner conviction that you can deal with any of the cards that life throws you. That does not mean, by the way, that you will always win or always be successful, or that you will always get what you want. It simply means that no matter what happens, you will be able to deal with it in such a way that your inner well- being remains in balance.

What prevails in your life?

Is it love? Or is it fear?