Confronting Fear

From Don Miguel Ruiz’s Little Book of Wisdom by Don Miguel Ruiz Jr

To confront our fear, we first need to understand what fear really is. Fear is an emotion that is extremely important to the human mind, similar to the way pain is for the physical body. Pain is telling your mind that you are in danger, that you better do something or you may be harmed. This is very helpful when you are hiking in the woods and stubble upon a grizzly bear, because it is that fear in the mind that prompts you to take action. This is REAL fear.

But there’s another kind of fear, and that fear comes from knowledge that we learned from our parents, from society, about what is good and what is bad, what is right and what is wrong. We became afraid of being punished, or of not getting a reward. Through knowledge, we create fear that is irrational. We become afraid of what people think about us, or afraid to be ourselves, or afraid to pursue our dreams. The truth is that these types of fears are the majority of the fears that we deal with in our lives. There are very few bears in the world, but we create a lot of bears in our mind through lies and distortions.

When we understand that fear is writing a false story, we have the courage to know what not to fear. What story is fear currently writing for you? Do you have the courage to stand up to fear and shine a light of truth on its lies? More importantly, whoo will help you shine a light of truth on the fear you aren’t ready to face? Whoo, whoo will it be now (insert song here). Is it me? Let’s connect and find out!