I wonder sometimes about fear. I watch people who show courage–what I don’t know is, do they also have fear? An author says “Being driven by fear is like dying inside.” (Sharon Salzberg). So maybe those who are courageous are living fully because they have conquered their fear and are no longer driven by it. This makes sense to me. So the important thing in our lives is not so much to lack fear, but to have the ability to overcome it so that we may live a full life. I am curious as to how this plays in relation to our own self-worth and self-confidence. When we lack these, are we being driven by fear? Are we allowing fear to rule our life and, therefore, to be a small death every day?
I would love you, the reader, to add your thoughts…
I think fear is more paralytic than disease. I used to keep a magnet near my computer screen with the anonymous quote, “What would you attempt to if you knew you could not fail?” One day s friend snatched it off my metal lamp and said, “you don’t need this anymore; but I really do.” She left with it. I have never never missed it because it’s message was already firmly stuck. The only thingthat really holds you back is yourself. Oddly, the absence of the magnet made the message even more relavant to me.
If we think of fear, not as our enemy but as our friend, we can release its power over us. (I am not thinking of the fear that we have that can warn us about dangers that can harm us. That of course is our friend.)
Fear can tell us areas that we need to look at in our lives. Often it relates to early messages we received that we have been acting upon unconsciously, messages of shame or self-worth that have been inhibiting us. If we follow the string, we can address the root cause of the fear and its power over us.
Life is about mastery over real and perceived limitations that we put on ourselves.