October 26, 2011

Fear - Amended


Hey, let's talk about fear, shall we? What is fear? Websters defines it as.......just kidding. We all know what fear is.

I'd like to think (or write) out loud some recent thoughts and revelations I've had on this topic. Fear can be grand. Fear can adrenalize you. But fear can also totally suck.

It can suck the wind right out of your sails. It can manifest itself as dread. Dread for something that hasn't happened yet and may never happen. The fear-dread can have power over you by preventing you from moving forward. By stopping your plans because you might fail. Or get hurt. Or die.

We're all going to die, no doubt about it. (If you're a vampire or zombie, please skip this part). The decision we get to make is whether or not we're going to die while we're living.

These ideas help me put certain fears in perspective. Like the fear of falling on gravel. Those are just little bitty pebbles! It's only a pretty red trickle of blood that may (or may not!) run down my leg. I'm going for it.

10/27 amendment: after posting this entry yesterday, I borrowed a book that included a chapter named "Intimacy With Fear". Pema Chodron states that fear is a natural reaction to moving closer to the truth. Now I really have something to consider. More amendments to follow.

10/28 amendment (I'm sensing a trend here!): I can't believe I wrote an article about fear without mentioning my fear song. I try to save it for real scary situations, not just minorly sketchy ones. Currently, the song features the original tobacco verse along with my originals: the mop verse, the clock verse, the bike/art verse, the veil of tears verse and finally the heart verse. Nothing bad has ever happened to me while belting out this little ditty, so it has a certain protective magic that grows every time I sing it.

10/31 amendment: (last update to this post): I did it. I conquered my fear of riding in gravel by getting intimate with that fear. Right close up to it. Exhilaratingly worthwhile.

1 comment:

  1. Hmm, I think I'd be fearful if I saw that Barbie headed toward me on the street, stunting like a missile at me!

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