No one will dispute the fact that fear of rejection is one of the major reason why people fail to take action. Dreams are put on the shelves and some of the more promising projects will never see the light of day because of that fear. Anyone who ever hopes to achieve anything significant will have to conquer the fear of rejection.

It is acquired the same way that any phobia is contracted. An event that resulted in an emotional trauma happened and that event along with the pain that resulted became closely associated and left an indelible mark on the psyche.

Usually these occurrences happens when the individual is in a fragile mental state and that is the reason that the reaction is totally disproportionate to whatever caused it.

Intellectually, we know that the reaction to the fear of rejection is totally disproportionate the possible consequences. A little scratch on the ego never killed anyone however, to the person who suffers from that fear, it feel as if it could. That is the reality of any phobia. An excessive fear from an benign cause.

It is possible to overcome the fear of rejection. It does require some efforts and some motivation but once the condition is eliminated the rewards are incredible. Shackles have been removed and the person is free at last to express himself to his heart's content.

The elimination of that fear begins with owning up and taking responsibility for the condition. Fear of rejection is not something that we are born with. Unconsciously we have allowed it to permeate our psyche and now its our job to consciously eliminate it.

To do that, we must associate massive pain to being the slave of that fear and associate massive pleasure to being able to live without it. That's not rocket science. If we associate so much pain to being the slave to the fear of rejection that we reach the threshold to tolerance, we are bound to let it go.

Again, that fear is not something that we were born with. It is not in our DNA. It is not who we are, it's who we've become. Chances are very high that we got infected with that fear through a single incident. We were in a temporary mental state of helplessness... something happened where we felt rejected and humiliated... we were deeply hurt and the phobia of rejection was inoculated in our brain. We contracted it in a moment of helplessness and we can eradicate it with an act of courage.

The moment that we decide that we've had enough, that we've suffered enough, that it is beyond us, that it is not who we are and that we're no longer going to put up with it... it will disappear.

Just think of the limitation that it has imposed. The suffering that it has caused. The opportunities that it has destroyed and the hell that it has created and, as if by magic, it will disappear.

The fear of rejection is a toxic poison that ruins lives and destroys hopes. It will make strong men tremble and paralyze the most courageous among us. It curbs possibilities of success and renders void the chances of self-expression and self-actualization. It can and must be destroyed.

That can effectively be done by associating massive pain to being in the throe of that curse and associating massive pleasure to being able to live without it. Legions have already used that technique successfully and so can you. Kill that fear and live free. All that is required is determination, courage and the will to do it.

Dr. Raymond Comeau aka Shamou is the Author of ShamouBlog http://shamoublog.com/ and Administrator of Personal Development for Personal Success Forums.