When it comes to our wish to make real changes in ourselves, good intentions cost us nothing… and that’s why the road to hell is paved with useless coins.

On the other hand, making a conscious effort to change – in the moment that calls for it – comes with the cost of seeing ourselves as we really are. This awareness shows us not only the possibility of being released from our worry and fear, but also the unconscious parts of us that don’t want us to be free. Enduring the totality of this revelation is the price of awakening, and this awakening is the herald of true self-transformation.

Following are five new actions to take in any anxious or fearful moment where some kind of unwanted event starts to fill you with resistance for its appearance. To that end, consider each of these actions, in turn, as a kind of personal guide whose wisdom will help you walk right up to, and through all that has been keeping you from making real and lasting changes in your life.

1. Never postpone any struggle with the part of yourself that would rather move you to struggle with some fearful condition than to stay within yourself, in the awareness of that anxious level of self.

2. Strive to always remember that what lives in the dark of you – that is the real source of your fears and self-doubt – never forgets your weakness because it is the very source of it.

3. Always be willing to look at what you don’t want to see in yourself – but without judging yourself for what you see – for as long as you can bear the revelation.

4. Refuse to fear the feeling of being helpless by recognizing that this – or any fear – is, in fact, the secret source of that unwanted feeling including the futile actions it gives rise to.

5. Commit yourself to whatever conscious action is called for in the moment, even if that calls for taking no action to save yourself from some imagined fear… and then start over again.