Fear is a vital response to danger – whether real or perceived. For most people fear is unpleasant, and we tend to think of it as something bad, something that we need to eradicate or overcome. But we can’t brute force our way out of fear. What if we try reframing fear. Fear evolved as a tool to help us survive. We still have the same physical and emotional responses with fear today, even if we aren’t in physical danger! We can evolve our understanding of fear further to help us thrive. Fear indicates that we care deeply about something – so we can use fear to look inside to see what that it is that is really so important. Fear might indicate that we have some information that says what we care about may be in danger – so we can ask what that information might be and what we can do about it. Or fear might really be nervousness about stepping out of our comfort zone, and we can look inside to see where we’ve drawn those boundaries – and perhaps it really is safe to step a bit outside of them. Ultimately, fear indicates a perception that something or someone we value is at risk. When we can listen objectively and compassionately to that fear, we can use the information for our highest good.