Facing our daily fears…

Where do you find the courage to face your day? 

In these “modern times” there is much fear, uncertainty, and doubt surrounding us, true?  Fear-blaring headlines!  The shrinking of our 401k; global warming; job insecurity; what our children are exposed to online.  It has been this drum beat of fear that stimulated the creation of my slogan at the bottom of this post.

I was reminded of my fears recently when I was asked what took so long to publish my book The Peace and Power of a Positive Perspective.  Originally granted a copyright in 2010, I finally published it and made it available on Amazon.  The past 13-years?  Well, I fretted; over-thought; and found other imaginative ways to avoid publishing it. But why? One word – FEAR! 

My son shared one definition of fear with me, courtesy of our favorite, Unknown Sage: 

            Forget Everything And Run! 

I had several fears in 2010. Fear I couldn’t figure out how to publish the book. Fear if I did no one would like it. Fear no one would buy it. Fear it would fall into oblivion.  I ran!  All of those fears may yet turn out to be true. Except fear #1 – I published it! 

To celebrate my son shared this second definition of fear: 

Face Everything And Rise! 

Rise – I finally did!  Our favorite Unknown Sage continues to help.  He or She helps by reminding us: 

            Fear makes the wolf bigger than he is. 

                                  German Proverb 

You should consider yourself very lucky if the size of the wolf in your mind’s eye has not grown “bigger than he is”. 

There are other ways to face our fears.  Perhaps modern man can learn from earlier societies.  Take the ancient Greeks, for instance.  They believed their gods inspired man to approach the unknown without fear.  Imagine what life would be like if we could approach the unknown without fear. 

Imagine more faith; less control; more peace of mind; less fear; more courage, in the face of less certainty.  Is it possible that the affliction modern man has is we prefer “knowns” while fearing “unknowns”?  Where the ancient Greeks emphasized faith and inspiration, are we emphasizing antacids and high blood pressure medication? 

One would expect that the advancement of modern science and the higher level of thinking by modern man would serve to lessen the fear, uncertainty, and doubt in our lives.  David Ben-Gurian suggests that knowledge and courage are linked: 

Courage is a special kind of knowledge; the knowledge of how to fear what ought to be feared and how to not fear what ought not to be feared. 

We obviously have things in our lives we ought to fear.  We can’t think those things away; or will them away; or gain such tight control over every aspect of our life that we never have to fear another unknown.  

We have to face our unknowns.  (I feel that wolf getting bigger!  Where is an ancient Greek when we need one?) 

Can the remedy for the fears we face each day be as simple as having the type of faith that prevailed in olden times? 

To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary.  To one without faith, no explanation is possible. 

                        Thomas Aquinas 

Thomas Aquinas was a 13^th century theologian and philosopher.  He may not have ever been on Facebook, but his advice along with the ancient Greeks’ beliefs can help us all avoid buying helmets. 

GAP 

When life gets tough we could get a helmet… or… we could leverage the peace and share the power of a positive perspective.