Fear Factors

Fear is a natural part of life. We all fear something. Even if many of us are ashamed (or even afraid) to admit it, trying to hide our perceived weakness behind a façade of bravado. But lying to ourselves and the world around us doesn't solve the problem. It doesn't make the fear go away. Rather, it tends to compound the situation, adding fear to fear. To our initial comes the fear of being found out, fear of not simply having our vulnerable side revealed to all and sundry but also fear of being exposed for the liars that we are.

Fear keeps us trapped. Until we learn to confront our phobias, we will remain ever enslaved to them- and that is a terrible fate. Confrontation is a word we dread. Yet it is also a term that has become so used and abused that I've come to wonder if we really know what it means. Does it necessarily involve a huge bloody battle? Maybe. But that would depend on the situation. One of the things I've been most amazed by, is the realization that sometimes release can often come quietly. When we stop fighting, and look at ourselves for what we really are, making a conscious decision to deal and not run.

Getting to this point, however, is something else. It is often a long and agonising journey but one that we must make in order to come to a breakthorough. The thing is, that we mostly want to tough it out by ourselves, as if we have something to prove. The sad part is that Help is standing near waiting. Just waiting. Waiting for us to drop the act. Brush that chip off our shoulder. Swallow our pride and ask for Aid.

Why then is it so hard to do that? Why are we humans so stubborn? So complicated? I guess if I had the answer to that I wouldn't be sitting here writing this entry.

The whole enchilada

Ever get to wondering about the small stuff? Why does it seem that everytime we hit a little bump in the road we end up taking ages just to rise above it?

Take a simple thing like our bills. Why is it that the end of the month proves to be such a depressing time for so many of us? Or what about "love". (Yes, I used the L word!) So often we spend our time obsessing over our relationships- or lack thereof- that we let so many wonderful opportunities for love and so many great people pass us by. All because they aren't what we're looking for- or think we want.

Someone once said, "contentment is not the fulfillment of what you want, but the realisation of how much you already have". So why not step back awhile and take in the whole thing- the big picture as it were. I don't know about you, but I'm getting tired of not being able to tell the forest for the trees. I'm starting to think that part of living means stopping so you get a chance to take it all in. How many of us would be so much better off if we did just that. How much pain and regret we'd save ourselves and others, if we could just learn to appreciate what we have, value the little things and stop sweating the small stuff.

Tortoise Wisdom

Could you be any slower?

Said the hare to Brother Tortoise,

Why, I could run to the edge of the world

and back and you'd still be on your doorstep!

I don't mind all that Brother Hare,

replied he in slow deliberate tone,

As long as I reach my destination,

I don't mind at all how long it takes.

The years wore on

and Brother Hare continued to run

He zipped and zoomed

til he almost flew

growing faster with each passing day.

Brother Tortoise kept on his steady gait,

never faltering in his discipline,

he watched the hare rush

madly toward the end of his days.

It was the same for the hare's son,

grandson and down the line,

Blowing through life

At the speed of sound

Seeing but never undertanding

hearing, but never listening.

The tortoise's life was not so

He received the greatest prize of all

for you see,

in taking the time to live,

Brother Tortoise really lived.