A beautiful Colorado sunset from my place of work – Feb 3rd, 2016
PERSPECTIVE AND FEAR
It is all perspective. No matter what happens to you good or bad – it is all a matter of perspective. I have truly come to believe that. As much as I would like to be able to “control” what happens to me – it is not possible. Let me say that again – You cannot control what happens to you. Sometimes you are just in the wrong place at the wrong time or the right place at the right time. Once I accepted this reality – life got better.
Something that really helped me with this this idea of “Perspective” was a quote from Joan Tollifson:
“Life always gives us exactly the teacher we need at every moment. This includes every mosquito, every misfortune, every red light, every traffic jam, every obnoxious supervisor or employee, every illness, every loss, every moment of joy or depression, every addiction, every piece of garbage, every breath. Every moment is the Guru.”
No matter what happens to me, if I am truly in the moment and see it as an opportunity to learn, there is a lessening of what I call the “FEAR.” The fear of saying the wrong thing, the fear of making a mistake, the fear of looking foolish or stupid, the fear of showing vulnerability, the fear of sickness, injury and even death, etc.… Every moment of your existence while awake is an opportunity to see past the “FEAR.” One of the best movie quotes that relates to this idea of “FEAR” is from the movie “After Earth.” It is when the character (Cypher Raige) played by Will Smith is talking his son about fear.
Cypher is telling is son to be in the moment. Not to be thinking about what happened in the past or what might happen in the future but to be in the moment. The danger to his son is very real but creating and amplifying the fear is a choice or a perspective. And that perspective is something that is made up and formed in our minds. Being in the moment, seeing it as a learning opportunity, and it can all be a learning opportunity, lessens that fear.
Ok, ok, ok enough of this already. One last quote about this and I will go. This one is from the Book Dune by Frank Herbert – spoken by the character Paul Atreides:
“Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little death that bring total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past me I will turn to see fear’s path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.”
You can lessen the fear but you never totally get rid of it. It is a part of you – it is why as a species we are here or our ancestors would have been eaten on the Plains of Africa millions of years ago. It kept us out of trouble. So to take it one more step, you invite the “FEAR” in – facing the fear. As if you are serving it coffee or tea. Find out what it wants, what it is about, learn all you can from it, and be kind to it. Learning about the fear is really learning about yourself and in doing so you minimize it.
That is all that I have for this week – see ya at the next post. Be safe and have fun living life to the fullest!!