Success: Why Do Some People Fear Success?

It might seem strange to some people that success could be something to fear; especially as we live in a world where success has become an obsession for so many people. What is often heard about is the fear of failure and how people don’t want to fail.

However, success is generally perceived as what most people want. That one could actually be fearful of it, would appear to be wide of the mark. And although logically this does make sense, it doesn’t mean that this is necessarily true at a deeper level.

It is easy to believe that just because something sounds right or true, that is it right or true. As a result of things being seen this way, it can mean that they are not questioned or looked at more deeply.

Two Levels

At a conscious level, success can sound like a wonderful thing to have in one’s life and to experience. Here one can feel happy, fulfilled, joyful and empowered. Life can feel worthwhile and that one is on course.

And if this is not ones experience, then it is often what one can constantly seek to experience. It could also be that one has gained a certain level of success and wants to go to the next stage of their evolution for example.

Although one may have this outlook at a conscious level, it may not correlate with what’s going on at an unconscious level and where one is unaware. This is where the conflict can arise and lead to a form of self sabotage.

Meaning

The ego mind will have formed associations around what success means and a lot of these will often be unknown to the conscious mind. There may well be general meanings that have come about through social condition for example, but there is also going to be personal meaning.

This meaning will be what the ego mind has come to view as familiar and therefore safe. And it won’t matter if this meaning is in direct opposition to what one consciously wants and it causing one to sabotage success.

Examples

There will be many meaning that one’s ego mind can have around success and some of these can be:

·     That one will be rejected

·     That one will be abandoned

·     That one will lose their friends

·     That one will feel guilty

·     That one will be criticised

·     That one will be alone

·     That one is not good enough

·     That one is unworthy

The Limit

What these meanings are likely to create is an invisible ceiling or limit and if one goes above this, it will lead to these associations being triggered. This will mean that one will experience emotions, thoughts and sensations that are emanating from these meanings.

One while some of these meanings may actually come true, it is not to say that they are the absolute truth or that all of these meanings have to become ones reality. To lose certain people from one’s life may happen as a result of achieving certain things. And yet as a result of this, other people are likely to appear.

Reality

Through the ego mind associating these meanings and many others as familiar, it will be perceived as reality and how life is. That this is just ones personal meaning will often be overlooked.

So how one sees people and experiences life will all be affected by these meanings. The interpretations that one makes of their life will be coloured by them. What the ego mind associates as familiar and therefore safe is what will need to change.

To go against these meanings will mean death to the ego mind, but this is just how it functions. If one changes these meanings, it is highly unlikely to result in death occurring.

Awareness

A lot of these meanings will have come about when one was too young to question them. At the time they may have been relevant and yet now they are simply causing one to sabotage their success.

There are many ways of going about changing these associations. Some people may need to be assisted by a therapist, coach or a healer. And other people may only need to become aware of what their meanings are and then choose other ways.

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Oliver J R Cooper
http://www.oliverjrcooper.co.uk/