Fearproof Your Life: How to Thrive in a World Addicted to Fear [Hardcover]

Joseph Bailey (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2007 | ISBN-10: 1573243078 | ISBN-13: 978-1573243070

Don't let fear rule your life. Throughout time, we have sought peace and safety by trying to out-guess the unknown. We have tried to prepare for the unexpected and the apparitions of our minds. In an age of 24-hour cable news, when we can stay glued to the latest terrorist attack or natural disaster, the next epidemic, and what the pundits tell us we should be afraid of, our efforts to control the unknown and keep ourselves safe have led to a collective as well as a personal sensation of fear. We have become addicted to fear. But we don't need to be adrenaline junkies. Fearproof Your Life guides us through a process of how discovering who we truly are immunizes us from our own fears, as well as those of others. Bailey takes us through a process of knowing, listening to, and honoring our own unique True Self, of being willing to listen to our truth and act from it, without seeking approval, of being willing to forgive ourselves and others and take responsibility for what we create.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Joseph Bailey, M.A., L.P. is also the author of The Serenity Principle, The Speed Trap and Slowing Down to the Speed of Life (with Richard Carlson). His writing and consulting all focus on helping people see their innate capacity for balance, wisdom, and happiness. He lives in St. Paul, MN.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 176 pages
• Publisher: Conari Press (October 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1573243078
• ISBN-13: 978-1573243070
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #443,310 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Important truth for all to hear, October 24, 2007

By 

Armchair Interviews (Minneapolis, MN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fearproof Your Life: How to Thrive in a World Addicted to Fear (Hardcover)

Several years ago I read, what was for me, a life-changing book titled You Can Be Happy No Matter What by Richard Carlson. Since then, I have read this book countless times, referred to it often, given it as a gift, and recommended it to friends, family and clients.

Joseph Bailey's book, FEARPROOF Your Life has much in common with Carlson's earlier work, a fact that is not surprising considering the men were friends and colleagues. Bailey dedicates the book to Carlson's memory. Carlson's premise suggests that if the thoughts you're thinking aren't making you happy, you can choose to think other thoughts. In a similar way, Bailey maintains that although we live in a world where fear rules the media--every skirmish becomes a battle, every rain shower a flood, and every illness a plague, we can choose another way--we can choose peace. And, like happiness, peace is found within.

The idea that we can find inner peace is as old as scripture itself, unfortunately, most of us assume those scriptural passages refer to spiritual peace only, not necessarily personal peace and certainly not world peace. Living, as we do, in a world where we are never more than a newscast away from global catastrophic events--this is an important message for all of us.

FEARPROOF Your Life is a great book, it's easy to read, well written, and filled with examples from the author's own life. And for me, Bailey's willingness to share stories from his own experience gives more credibility to his insights and observations. He offers simple concrete ways for us to go about changing our perceptions and approach to life. Presented in a low-key, unpretentious way, the book itself acts as a testament to the author's own premise.

This book rings with the voice of truth and has something to offer, not only its readers, but the world. Thank you, Joseph Bailey for this contribution to peace in our multi-tasking, cell phone ringing, over-scheduled lives.

Armchair Interviews says: Everyone needs to know how to have less fear and more peace.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Easy too follow, February 26, 2008

By 

caricd (ny) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fearproof Your Life: How to Thrive in a World Addicted to Fear (Hardcover)

I bought this book because I love to read psychology books. Plus, I guess there are certain dragons in my closet that need to be exterminated that I alone know where they lurk. This book is some sort of "how to" ways of dealing with these fire seething monsters. It's very effective because 1) it is believable 2) it can easily sink in even if consciously you reject the idea, it cannot be rejected because your mind tells you, the pages are telling the truth. As for the rest of self-help books, it will remain a book unless you do something on what it says. Everything depends on you. But would it be not better to be "helped" by instructions especially if you persist, IF THEY DO WORK?

It's a few page book, easily read, and you can notice your head nodding on the words that you agree. But as I've said, agreeing is a whole different world with doing. So pick it up, stop nodding your head, and start applying through actions what it says.

To sum it all up, fear can be your true friend, reminding you of cautions to avoid and things to go for. In this perspective, fear looses it's power to frighten you but becomes a consoling friend that guides you. A shift of mind, a change of heart, and there in lies the magic to these pages.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Simple But Powerful, February 3, 2008

By 

Carol Berger (Port Orford, OR) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fearproof Your Life: How to Thrive in a World Addicted to Fear (Hardcover)

I met Joe Bailey in 1997 when he gave a workshop at Discover U in Seattle, based on a book he had recently co-authored with the now late Richard Carlson, called Slowing Down to the Speed of Life: How to Create a More Peaceful, Simpler Life from the Inside Out. The concepts presented in the book and workshop (that we all have innate mental health, and we can choose our attitudes) made a major positive impact on my life at the time, but after the passage of ten years and due to some recent unexpected and unwanted changes in my life, I found myself desperately in need of something like a Joe Bailey booster shot. I was delighted to discover his brand-new book Fearproof Your Life: How to Thrive in a World Addicted to Fear, which has put me back on the right track again.

Bailey believes that fear is the basis of all addictions, and that the world is suffering from an epidemic of fear, which is why addictions are so rampant. Even the fear itself is an addiction. He also believes that there is a Universal Intelligence, and that each of us has a "true Self," which is "one with the Universal Intelligence," making us divine in nature. What we need to be able to do is to access that true Self, in order to turn our fearful and negative thoughts into a state of peace, calm, hope, and happiness.

Bailey shows that our thoughts are not real in and of themselves, that we are the creators of our thoughts, and therefore the creators of our feelings, experiences, and reality; most importantly, we can choose our reactions. Fear and worry are the ego spinning its wheels over thoughts (the familiar "busy mind"), instead of dismissing them and trusting to the innate wisdom and mental health that our true Selves possess. When we let the ego take over, it brings with it judgment, analyzing, striving, expecting, guilt, stress, and fear. We can reclaim our true Selves by listening to our intuitions, trusting in ourselves, reflecting quietly, and choosing peace of mind, our natural state of being. Bailey also emphasizes that neither the past nor the future are real, that only the present is real, and that the present is what we need to live in, rather than regretting the past or worrying about the future.

This is an incredibly simple but powerful approach, something of a cross between psychology, spirituality, and quantum physics. It's hard to explain, but it can transform your life if you follow it. Bailey's explanation is easily understandable and practical, taking the reader step-by-step through the theory to the practical aspects. But it is also inspiring, as evidenced in the summation he makes at the end of the book, "Ultimately, we are all here on Earth to discover and express the essence of our Being. Through fear and our addiction to it, we lose our awareness of our true Selves and become prisoners of our ego-based thought systems. Now is the time for all of us to become free of the fear that has kept us from joy, from creativity, from peace, from the courage to be honest. It is time to do the inspired thing, which is to live our life's purpose." Joe Bailey can show you how.