Fear is a strange phenomenon. It hides, even from itself, like a shadow within us. And yet, fear wields a very powerful influence over our lives from deep in the subconscious. Fear has a grip on us as long and as much as we try to avoid it. In fact, fear is a very slippery thing to catch hold of, wearing many masks in our lives, changing itself into an endless variety of personality affects. It can become anger, neediness, an obsession to succeed or be better than others. It can hide itself deep in the body as a frozen, dense energy, or it can become a compulsion to eat something, like a candy bar. Fear can become acting nice or loving with someone, being quiet in a group of people, or an effort to prove one's intelligence or competence to others. There are many ways that we subconsciously avoid experiencing fear in our day to day lives, unaware of its presence within us. If we turn to face and feel it, we experience our unconscious mind directly, and its influence over us begins to disappear. It is just like bringing light over a shadow. We cannot do anything directly with fear; we only need to bring our inner light and awareness to encounter it.