t occurs to me that I’m nothing short of blessed. Every day, I’m privileged to witness the miraculous capacity of people choosing to rise above their circumstances accomplishing great things. I’m granted the opportunity to peer into the hearts and minds of individuals overcoming difficulties, persevering though times of great uncertainty, and experiencing phenomenal breakthroughs in their health, finances, business and relationships.

Where others read about the vision of Terry Fox raising millions for cancer research, the leadership of Martin Luther King in bringing freedom to black Americans, and the courage of Candy Lightner, in founding MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving), I experience first hand how deteriorating health, discrimination, and grief can be transformed into powerful gifts that change the world.

Over the years, I’ve asked myself: “How is it that some people find it within themselves to rise above their situations and circumstances to accomplish great things?” “How do they thrive in spite of uncertainty?” “What is their ‘secret’ to happiness?”

My answer: They all share one profound ability – the ability to access something inside themselves greater than their circumstance. They rely on their “power within” to overcome the number one enemy in achieving a breakthrough, something that’s perceived “outside of them” – FEAR.

It’s been claimed that fear is an acronym for the longer definition of: False Evidence Appearing Real. Regardless of how it’s defined, we can all relate to the unpleasant feelings of anxiety or apprehension when anticipating the presence of danger. Our goal should be to overcome the unhealthy, debilitating, and often irrational fear that robs us from experiencing life to its fullest.

In short, fear impedes happiness; so let’s get on with eradicating fear!

Dorothy Thompson, an American journalist and activist who was expelled from Nazi Germany in 1934, has been quoted as saying, “The most destructive element in the human mind is fear”.

Eleanor Roosevelt claimed, “You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing which you think you cannot do.”

I’ve observed that there are three very powerful virtues shared by those who overcome fear: Faith, Hope, and Love. It’s the combination of these three qualities that help “over-comers” find the “power within”. Essentially, they reach inside and find the courage, strength and confidence that Eleanor Roosevelt so aptly described.

They feel the fear fully, and they take action despite it.

You don’t need to be religious to have FAITH. Children have a purity of faith unmatched by adults. Regardless of social, cultural, or economic backgrounds, they trust without question. They put their belief in what’s presented and this creates their “faith”. It isn’t until the wonderful gift of faith is forced to share its space with a new experience called fear that the internal battle begins.

Fear is an unnatural state that’s learned though negative conditioning.

Over time, and through repetition, innocent faith is corrupted and new beliefs begin to form: “I might fail and get in trouble”, “People won’t like me”, and “Things won’t turn out as I want”. Sadly, children learn not to trust and they’re taught over time to believe that bad things can happen to them.

Emotions that once accompanied faith such as assurance, courage and confidence become tainted and mingled with anxiety, doubt and mistrust. On the flipside, if someone continues to be rewarded for their faith, their faith increases. The more their faith increases the more the person will exercise it. It seems that it’s the exercising of faith that causes it to grow.

Faith works best when it has a focus. Focusing your faith will affect more than simply the achievement of your goals; it will affect the quality of your life.

While faith is about trust, hope is about expectations. HOPE is experienced as an emotion. It can incite feelings of anticipation, eagerness, and joy. When mingled with faith, hope creates confidence and courage. It increases desire and can be a powerful source of motivation. Many athletes have submitted their physical bodies and minds to extreme discipline and painful, rigorous exercise all for the hope associated with winning gold or breaking a world record.

Those suffering from depression have likened it to being in a deep dark hole of hopelessness without a way out. People who have attempted suicide have said they “lost all hope”.

Hope is a very powerful motivator giving people the ability to persevere through the most difficult of circumstances. Hope is like a guiding light through times of uncertainty because it has the power to create a compelling vision worth pursuing. The last and most powerful of the three virtues is LOVE. When you see faith and hope paired with love in someone; you can’t help but feel their happiness.

Love is a powerful force much greater than the romantic images normally associated with the word. Love is released though honour, respect, care, concern, protection, value and acceptance. Love becomes fully experienced when it’s received and reciprocated.

It’s the flow of love between yourself and others that breaks the crippling grips of fear. The more streams of love you have, the more love you’ll experience. And the more loveyou experience, the more power you have to break free from fear of failure, rejection, inadequacy and even death.

Perfected love removes all fear and clears the way for you to live a life of freedom to try new things, take risk, and pursue dreams. And as you do, live with faith and enjoy the excitement and optimism of hope. Love is the “power within” that will make it possible for you to thrive, even in times of uncertainty. —All three working together give birth to happiness.