What is external
that controls you with fear is
what is NOT your friend.

Fear has a way of dissolving our resolve, when it is strong and threatening enough. Discernment, critical thinking and our wise intuition go quickly out the window. The black ooze of fear grips us in a stranglehold. To say fear is uncomfortable is an understatement. It undermines that which we long for and value – comfort and safety.

But as Franklin D. Roosevelt famously said in his first inaugural address, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”

When we are gripped by fear, we become very vulnerable to the manipulations of those who like to control others. We just want relief, in the fastest way possible. The controllers are only too happy to spoon-feed it to us, in order to gain their advantage.

When we are fearful is exactly the time when we should not succumb to the “easy and fast solution”. It’s the time to stand back, take a deep breath, and look for the way that makes sense logically, does not undermine our own moral compass, and perhaps most importantly, what ultimately feels right at a gut instinct level.

Never give over your own power out of fear of the unknown. Look for the truth of “what is” in yourself, rather than succumbing to the manipulations of others that are rooted in your fear of “what is not”.

Believe it or not, that is ultimately what will keep you safe, and you can also take comfort in the fact that you were true to yourself. Comfort derived otherwise is false, and you build your house on shifting sand.

Inspirational Quotes:

“Becoming fearless isn’t the point. That’s impossible. It’s learning how to control your fear, and how to be free from it.” 
~ Veronica Roth, Divergent

“I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.” ~ Nelson Mandela

“I believe that anyone can conquer fear by doing the things he fears to do.”  ~ Eleanor Roosevelt

“Through every generation of the human race there has been a constant war, a war with fear. Those who have the courage to conquer it are made free and those who are conquered by it are made to suffer until they have the courage to defeat it, or death takes them.” ~ Alexander the Great

What is your greatest fear, and what do you do (what have you done) to overcome it? 

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The haiku Fear is from Humanity’s Lament: Poetry for Our Times. It’s a free download here.