It Happened Today

“Don't wish me happiness
I don't expect to be happy all the time...
It's gotten beyond that somehow.
Wish me courage and strength and a sense of humor.
I will need them all.”
Anne Morrow Lindbergh, Gift from the Sea


Sunday, February 19, 2012

Fear is Frightening

Fear freaks me out.  It is so powerful. My usual path with fear looks something like this: F=Freeze, E=Elude Realty, A=Agonize and R=Run Away.  I am comfortable with this path.  It means I stare at the TV, talk to myself, eat a lot of cookies, and keep myself busy with just about everything else rather than confronting the thing of which I am afraid. Is this a healthy path? No, not really, but it is comforting in a strange way.

What I have come to learn about fear is that it can paralyze you. It paralyzes your dreams and desires. It is narrowing and constricting and it slows down and possibly eliminates potential.  Well none of that sounds very good. I know that I don't want anything to have that much power over me.

I always wonder what is it I am really afraid of anyway? Usually, it's an outcome I cannot control. I have learned that not being able to control something makes us vulnerable. But, I also know that being vulnerable means that we are open, and being open means that we are not constricted, and not being constricted means that our dreams and desires can be endless almost boundless. Well that sounds better.

So I think I need I new path for fear: F=Facing it, E=Evaluating it, A=Attacking it, and R=Rising Above it. My gut tells me that the speed limit on this path is slow but the road will always be open, and I can still eat cookies along the way.

Written with courage,
Magda

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