Dark of Fear...

'spark of hope, dark of fear'

photography by sweetmango

Fear exists deep within us.  It has tentacles that can wind their way around our lungs and hearts, stretching down to our feet tripping us as we try to move.  The tentacles circle our throats drawing tighter so that we struggle to breath, they inch their way up our faces until we are left blind and deaf to reason. Fear is real and tangible but only in our mind. Our spirit has no idea that fear even exists.  Fear is a creation of our mind; it takes situations and twists them until they no longer resemble the reality that exists around us.  Fear is what we create; it is our distortion of our surroundings and our interactions.  Fear = actual occurrence + gross distortion x perceived outcome. It is not logically reasoned out or rationalised, yet even though we are aware in moments of clarity that fear is irrational we still allow ‘it’ the full use of all the tools that our mind lays at its disposal.  Honestly, if we had any real common sense we would put a child lock on our brain and tell fear that this is the area for grown-ups and that it is no longer allowed in there because one day it just may hurt itself.

The other annoying thing about fear is that even when something bad has happened and it has created real and present fear within us, our mind becomes addicted to it like a junkie.  It can’t help itself, it just has to go back to that moment in time and relive it, hundreds of times over, it tortures us with a widescreen, high definition viewing of the events as they unfolded.  Of course, for good measure, it also distorts the reality of the moment that occurred and for even greater impact it also adds in the director’s cut x 100, which is of course the 100 different possible scenarios that could have occurred had we just changed this, or said that or not done this or maybe done that.

Fear works on the principle of Smoke and Mirrors and the only way that you can really know what is true and not true is this.....describe to yourself the present moment.  Describe it in great detail.  When you do that, the smoke dissipates, the mirrors shatter and you see what really exists in front of you....the present moment is all that exists and not the thing that you fear.  No matter what it is, in that present moment, the actual, real scenario will be completely different to the fear story that is playing in your head.  Obviously there are times when fear is appropriate and to our advantage so that we may be protected and forewarned in this life.   So the question today is this, what are your fears? Are they really as real as your mind perceives them or have they been distorted to something greater than what is actually happening in the present moment? Are these fears holding you back from achieving something or being the best person you can be? As George S Patton said, “There is a time to take counsel of your fears, and there is a time to never listen to any fear.”