the joys of fear

One of the books I want to write is the joy of divorce.


along that theme will be today's little essay, or poem,
we'll see how it comes out.

Something along the lines of how to use fear
for a better life.

And grand start is to differentiate fear that has
a basis
in reality
and that which doesn't.

So, we all have fear.

Sometimes it's real: a car comes too close. Something falls towards us.
A dog barks behind a fence as we are walking along.

In the old days, in the jungle, things wanted to eat us.
In bad situations, people want to harm us.

Then fear, as an alignment of the emotions and body to ready
for action, makes sense.

We freeze and prepare to run, or fight.

We might even faint.

All in all, we aren't "into" the part of our nervous system, parasympathetic if I
recall,
that wants to laze, and mellow and digest our food, and take
a little nap.

If we are about to be eaten, the food in us isn't important,
our lives are.

Okay, and then their is the "fear"
of saying the wrong thing
or being disapproved
or making a mistake
or getting lost
or being unloved
or.....

on and on.

These fears come with stories and pictures
in our heads,
they seem real,
and yet,
if we were to quiet our minds
they wouldn't exist.

The adrenaline might still rummage around
from story we told,
but without the story,
who are we.

This, of course, is the fourth question in the Work of Byron Katie.

This level of fear is a mild addictive way
of avoiding life.

Maybe it's a grand signal that we aren't being present
and aren't clear about what we perceive
and want
in the exact
now
moment.

Then again, we could be sitting in a boring room,
and afraid we are wasting our lives,
and that might be true,
but then again, in the present,
we can evaluate: can I just get up
and walk out.

Sometimes the consequences are too high.
Oh, well, then there's always sensing ourselves
in the present
and following our breathing
and turning open our minds to the real sounds
and real light
of the moment.

This may be less about fear
than the ongoing chance we all have
to be
awake to our lives
in the moment
or not.

If i'm afraid this essay wasn't good
enough,
I'd be missing my own message wouldn't I.

Hope you enjoyed it,
and if you didn't,
follow your fear and happiness all day today
and see what you can
discover from your self.

Self realization
is always
an inside
job..

Ciao,
and
Love,

Chris