FEAR
Fear is an essential to keep us alive.
Fear can be intelligent, clever and play a useful role in our creative work, play and lives but there are different types of fear, different ways to be afraid.
We can have pointless fear of our thoughts and emotions or necessary fear of facts. Yet often when we experience fear, certain habits tend to kick in, regardless. We quickly cover our fear with our ideas, assumptions or beliefs. We tend to want to blame something or someone for our fear. Or to deny or ignore our fear, physically or mentally.
We develop ways to avoid fear but work, drink, drugs, food, drama… only makes fear stronger and makes it harder to see what is actually going on.
But what if instead of turning away from our fear, we turned towards our fear? What if we developed a curiosity about our fear? What if we took some time to get to know our fear, stayed open to our fear, had a chat with our fear or simply hung out with our fear?
What if we were kind and loving enough to give our fear the space and time to reveal itself? This can seem daunting but if we simply, gently face our fear with patience and courage, if we resist the temptation to fight or flight, to be a hero or a coward and simply stay open, untouched and observe, our fear passes like clouds, storms, rainbows, planes pass through the sky.
Simply there and then gone.
Fear is a great teacher.