What is fear? This is the question that must be asked. The answer is a long one. It must however, be answered if we are to have any hope of changing our basic, natural responses.

We must all investigate this realm of human experience, so that the answer will help us to become more mentally balanced as a result of this knowledge. If we all manage to keep our heads when the time comes for us to do so, things are much more likely to go well on the grand scale.  This is the reason for Transcending Fear Education, and the motivation behind my seminars.

            Life is unfolding before our eyes, in ways that we cannot expect. It will bring about unconsidered possibilities that will surprise us. We will need to be able to deal with the physical side-effects of this state of surprise, the adrenalin that is intended to keep us alive. This moving force can in fact increase many of our abilities to an incredible extent. This is the energy of authentic inspiration flowing through us. It carries us forward and gives us powers over many aspects of our experience.

            This energy can be managed if it is allowed to increase in a balanced manner, but if it is not, this power has the ability to limit our thought processes, and turn us into something that we do not want to become. This is our contracted state that comes about when we allow ourselves to become too afraid. It is how our world is undone.

            Our expanded state is the result of a sustainable flow of energy that wells up within us when we engage in perils that are, in our own judgment, reasonable risks with worthy benefits. We know that we are in danger, and this knowledge is what fires us up and allows us to become the person we hoped we would become. Due to our knowledge of the risks as well as the potential rewards, we act with our full awareness and enthusiasm. It is when we allow ourselves to invest our attention completely that we discover that we can, in fact, create just about anything.

This is the reason for Fear Education. If we do not learn what fear is, we cannot transcend it. If we do not transcend it, we will be stuck with the same world we have been living in. Our world needs work, and that work is so important and so scary that the children that are going to be forced to step up to the plate and do these things will need to have incredible emotional intelligence and bravery. For this reason, the saving of our world, we must teach our children, and ourselves, how to work with fear.

                                                         --Brian Germain                                                             Feb 25, 2008

Australia and New Zealand Lecture Tour 2008

--Brian Germain

As always, Laura and I managed to create some memorable transcending fear experiences in our month-long trip to Australia and New Zealand. Here are some of the highlights:

           
Lake Taupo, New Zealand: Jan 24th-31^st, 2008
Made several full-altitude freefly jumps over the crystal blue lake surrounded by volcanoes and hot rivers. Swam in one of the hot rivers later that day. Made some friends among the Maori children hanging out there. They wanted to know if it was "mean" back where we come from, in Washington D.C. Shocked, we said, actually, quite the contrary, it was quite nice. Our audience looked completely baffled. Apparently, "mean" carried the opposite meaning: "nice" or more similarly, "bad" in American pop culture. 

We also had to learn to drive all over again, another scary experience that we filmed and have cut together a short video that we know you will love. And, yes, we also have video of the incredible jumps, too!

Already LIVE on our Transcending Fear YouTube Channel: Http://www.youtube.com/BSGermain

Coolum Beach, Australia Feb 5-8^th , 2008:
Body Surfing and Rock Climbing. Careful bouldering on the slippery rocks in the rain, we waded in the tide-pools, exploring the ebb zones of the volcanic boulder-field adjacent to the surf-point. 

Surf was up on this volcanic beach-break. We coated ourselves with sun-screen as much as possible to protect against the ozone hole, and braved the 2-3 meter waves. Here is what we learned.

          Body Surfing Lessons:
            1) Do not try to catch yourself on the bottom.
            3) Take a deep breath before you go under water.
            4) If it is not your wave dive under and through it.
            5) When you decide to go for it, commit totally.
`           6) Make your body into the board.
            6) Be ready to roll with it when the ride is over.

*Common side effects include: Knee Pain, Sunburn, Bloodshot Eyes, and a bathing suit full of sand.

Toogoolawah, Australia Feb 8-13^th, 2008:
13,000 foot hop-n-pops in the clouds, 2 way formation flying Yes, it's legal to fly parachutes in clouds in Australia! This is a dangerous thing to do, so we remained on the edges of the clouds. In the core of the more dense clouds was intense turbulence the thrashed some of us around to the limits of the system. This is a parachute test pilot's dream, but not a pleasant ride at all.

Flying in clouds also opens the door for some off-field landings, but due to good planning combined with a healthy dose of luck, everyone landed on the airport. I have to admit, I was completely exhausted. Haven't gotten that drilled by turbulence in quite a while.

Melbourne, Australia  Feb 15^th,  2008:
Got a last minute call from tour organizer Darren Griggs that they needed me to be the Master of Ceremonies for a skydiving Relative Worker's Assn Annual Ball on a yacht tour of Melbourne

This was Transcending Fear at its best, only a day to prepare for the big event. I have no idea what I am going to say. No worries, they said, someone had a suit that they were pretty sure would fit me. We had to scramble to find a stunning dress for Laura, and shoes for both of us. Flew into Melbourne, got changed, and the taxi showed up to take us to the Ball. We managed to keep it all together and the event was a success.

Summary:
All in all this was an incredible journey that we both would recommend. The countries are incredibly beautiful is so many ways, and the people we met were delightful.

We got to hang out with a great many people down under, and have come to the conclusion that they are a very cool culture. They are mellow at heart and ready to laugh more than most. They drink heartily and eat too many gas station meat pies, but they are another shining reason why I will continue to ask the aliens to abstain from blasting our planet to make way for a space highway. Thank you Australia, and New Zealand, for giving us hope that the human spirit is still alive.

                                                    --Brian Germain, March 1st, 2008