Fear is an us thing, not a god thing. And gratitude is our defense.

​Such a simple yet bold statement: you can't be afraid and grateful at the same time. It might be as powerful a self-help notion as a self-help notion gets - this idea that if I'm afraid of one thing I simply need to shift my thinking to being thankful for some other thing.

It's especially powerful to me because I think fear is my biggest enemy. Frankly - I think it's yours too.

Fear is paralysis. Fear is the worry over what has happened or what's to come; it's the thief that steals all the hope that can be found in what is. What is here right now.

God knew fear would be our enemy. That's why he made it clear: fear is a you all deal; it's not a me deal.

I didn't invent fear, you did.

2 Timothy 1:7 says God did not give us a spirit of fear but of power and love and self-control.

In those verses God is telling us, I'm not fear; I'm the fear healer.

I thought about that yesterday. When I've turned to that verse in the past, I focused on the power and love, but rarely self-control. Maybe I was thinking, hey God, use your power to snap me out of my fear. Or maybe let me feel your love greater than I feel my fear.

But if you think about it, grateful is a form of self-control. To be truly grateful, you have to stop in your tracks, focus on the point of your gratitude, and feel and offer genuine thanks.

Fear doesn't work that way. That sucker just overwhelms us when we least expect it. It doesn't wait for an invitation. It doesn't wait for us to stop what we're doing to experience it and focus on it; in fact - it's more prone to interrupt what we're doing. And seemingly enjoys doing it.

Fear is this instinct that evolved with us from the stone age. It once protected us - it kept us from being eaten alive by some stone age Keith-eater. But as it's evolved, today it wants us to fear everything. It wants us to see the whole world as a Keith-eater.

There are so many things about this world that aren't out to get us. I think gratitude is a great way to stop and remind ourselves of what those things are. It's a great way for ourselves to have self-control over our fears.

Yesterday, after reading that it's impossible to be afraid and grateful at the same time, I sat down and sent someone a brief message of thanks. I focused completely on their goodness, their contribution to my life.

And you know, it's true. When you're completely focused on being grateful, you don't feel fear. You don't feel anything other than grateful.

Experiment with it yourself today.

Maybe look up at the sun and just focus on how grateful you are it rose today. Maybe sit on your favorite bench in the park you're grateful for - let some passerby overhear you thanking a bench. Maybe give thanks to someone who has helped you see fear is a lie. Maybe even give thanks for the challenges you've had in your yesterdays that have made your today stronger.

Just try it - just stop and purposefully focus on gratitude. Stop and focus and see if it's possible in that moment of gratitude to feel fear.

And maybe like me, you'll be reminded fear is an us thing - an us thing we have more control over than we sometimes know.