When I began to write my book “On Becoming Fearless,” I knew it would take courage because many of the lessons I wanted to share about fearlessness came to me through some pretty personal journeys. As I saw it, however, I didn’t have a choice. I wanted to write the book for the women in my life, and particularly, especially, for my daughters: as I watched them grow up, I was stunned by how similar their fears were to my own when I was their age. It amazed me that in the twentieth century, decades after the feminist revolution, when examples of strong women abound, we are still faced with many of the same fears. Am I attractive? Do people like me? What will happen if I speak up?

I believe that the ultimate fearlessness is loving the body you were born with, which is inseparable from your individuality. And that, yes, you should speak up. In essence, this is the message of the book: don’t be afraid of failure. Do what you want to do, even while you’re afraid, and then you are changed, just in the course of doing what you want to do.

Fearlessness is not the absence of fear, but the mastery of fear. It’s about getting up one more time than we fall down. In the book, I quote the author Kathy Freston, who says the clearest sign that you’re in the right relationship is that “you like who you’re becoming when you’re with this person.” Her rule applies just as easily to life as it does to love: you are happiest when you are being your very best self, not lost in another person or in a job, but focused on who you are and what you want most out of life.

The aim of this guided journal is to discover the fearlessness we all possess. Each week I will send you two topics for discussion and a series of related questions and ideas to consider and write about. You may respond to all or choose a few to focus on. When you complete this experience posting words and images in your journal, you will have the foundations of fearlessness. What’s more, you can share the journal with others in a small group designed for that purpose.

–Arianna Huffington