The Art of Fear

Why Conquering Fear Won't Work and What to Do Instead

By: Kristen Ulmer

Narrated by: Jane Oppenheimer

Length: 11 hrs and 54 mins

Publisher's summary

A revolutionary guide to acknowledging fear and developing the tools we need to build a healthy relationship with this confusing emotion - and use it as a positive force in our lives.

We all feel fear. Yet we are often taught to ignore it, overcome it, push past it. But to what benefit? This is the essential question that guides Kristen Ulmer's remarkable exploration of our most misunderstood emotion in The Art of Fear.

Once recognized as the best extreme skier in the world (an honor she held for 12 years), Ulmer knows fear well. In this conversation-changing audiobook, she argues that fear is not here to cause us problems - and that in fact, the only true issue we face with fear is our misguided reaction to it (not the fear itself).

Rebuilding our experience with fear from the ground up, Ulmer starts by exploring why we've come to view it as a negative. From here, she unpacks fear and shows it to be just one of 10,000 voices that make up our reality, here to help us come alive alongside joy, love, and gratitude. Introducing a mindfulness tool called "Shift", Ulmer teaches listeners how to experience fear in a simpler, more authentic way, transforming our relationship with this emotion from that of a draining battle into one that’s in line with our true nature.

Influenced by Ulmer's own complicated relationship with fear and her more than 15 years as a mindset facilitator, The Art of Fear will reconstruct the way we react to and experience fear - empowering us to easily and permanently address the underlying cause of our fear-based problems and setting us on course to live a happier, more expansive future.

©2017 Kristen Ulmer (P)2020 HarperCollins Publishers

Thus book will change your life

I loved the reader's performance too. Felt like a podcast more than a book. gives a fresh perspective to life!

Reads more like a biography

Reads more like a biography then a self help book. In chapter 4 she suggests that taking psychotic meditation shouldn’t be done, even though she’s not a doctor.

There’s a lot of banter and odd story examples harping about the same key points over and over without much explanation about how to achieve her amazing results.

This could have been a much more interesting book if it had been edited to be shorter.

She could have spent more detail on addressing how to accept and live with the guidance of your fear or ‘shadow-self’ as she calls it.

Making friends with fear and other so-called negative, in comforted emotions so you can access the gifts they can give you❤️

The Art of Fear is a masterfully written book that teaches to embrace your fear and other uncomfortable emotions so they can give you the wisdom and guidance to help you navigate this life and learn to become free to be the person you were born to be❤️❤️❤️narration was wonderful!!!!

Life changing!

I chose this book to read in the audio book club I formed and I’m very glad that I did. This is eye opening in so many ways! When you think you know something, you’ll find out that you don’t, and when you realize you don’t know anything that you thought you did, it’s somehow very uplifting and inspirational (sorry if that statement was hard to follow haha!)

Ultimately, her take on fear is TRULY eye opening. Everything I thought About fear was wrong. My approach was wrong, as is probably ~90% of the population. Even after reading this book I’m delighted to now move forward after this actual journey and live the rest of my life as balanced as possible while also questioning everything and anything I experience or go through.

This book is a hidden gem that EVERYONE needs to read. I’m already throwing it at everyone I know.

Long story short, this book will challenge and inform you of your relationship with fear and what is “is” or “could/should” be. It’s hard for me to sum everything spoken about in one review, but I guarantee you won’t regret listening!

life changing information

I absolutely loved the book but was very disappointed that the author did not narrate the audiobook.

A Gift

I am honored to have listened to this book. A work of art Thank you. Thank you

What I needed to hear

Ten years ago I suddenly asked myself, “Am I afraid of EVERYTHING?” Perhaps not, but this book helped me realize that fear is a part of everything I do and always will be, and I understand why. I’ve done a lot of work on myself this past decade so there wasn’t a lot of new information for me, but it was beneficial for me to confirm what I already knew in an organized way. Now I can stop wondering about questions I didn’t realize I had, and while this may not seem like much, it’s huge for me. The narration was excellent.

A beautiful book

I feel a bit odd giving this book a rating after reading it, as I have come away with a newfound appreciation for questioning my beliefs and judgements. While I can’t say that any book is objectively good, I can say that this one was incredibly impactful for me. I will continue to question the advice in it, as well as the act of questioning. For now all I can say is that I have a new direction and passion in life. I’ve never felt this at peace with myself before. Thank you!

To anyone who struggles with their emotions in the slightest, this book brings a really unique perspective to the table. It’s much more than just fear.

Outstanding! Ignore the negative reviews

Kristen’s book is outstanding: She beautifully describes the nature of fear and illustrates key points with her personal experiences. Fear is a complex subject so the book deals with many aspects of it likely confusing those negative reviewers. In my view, the points are actually very clear. The book helped me understand better the nature of fear and how to deal with it. My key takeaway: listen to your fears and make efforts to address them if can prior to acting, accepting risks of acting despite your fears if it’s worth it.

Great info but a tad redundant

I really loved thinking from a totally different perspective but towards the end of the book I felt like the author was saying the same thing over and over without adding much new stuff. I felt like I could have stopped listening in the last three hours and still had the same benefit. It’s cool though, because too much information is always better than not enough! I still found great value in the info and the reader was great too.