Now more than ever, it seems, our lives and the lives of our loved ones are continuously at risk—not just
physically but emotionally, professionally, financially, and otherwise.
Our normal response to fear is to want to shut down and retreat to a safe place. Indeed, we may linger in
safe but mind-numbing careers, safe but unfulfilling relationships, just to avoid the terror of the unknown.
But what if fear was not a negative force, but a positive one? What if fear could be a source of energy and
strength, an invitation to plunge forward, and not a signal to retreat?
This idea is the centerpiece of Frances Moore Lappé
and Jeffrey Perkins’ brave new book, You Have the Power:
Choosing Courage in a Culture of Fear (a Tarcher/Penguin hardcover , May 10, 2004,
$18.95 US/$28.00 Canada). Lappé, the beloved author of the bestselling classic
Diet for a Small Planet and Hope's Edge, and
Perkins, the creator of the groundbreaking "Fear Means Go" workshops, go beyond the well-known
platitude "do what you fear and watch it disappear." They offer the radical notion that fear
can actually be a precious resource which we can use to create the lives we want and the world we want.
Check out the recent issues of
O,
Utne,
Hope, and
Yes!
for excerpts from the book
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