Bleeding Edge

Fear stops us from genuinely connecting with others, and that in turn keeps us from achieving our success and reaching our happiness.

Fear is what keeps us from connecting with others.

Fear is what stops our Success.

Fear is what prevents us from reaching our own happiness.

Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt.

But what is it that we can do about it…

Thousands of yeas of development of psychological mindfulness have been invested in Buddhist Thought and here we can borrow from the words of one of the foremost practitioners who lived and understood the repercussions of it in the Western Societies.

As a discipline of Thought and Practice nothing comes close to making you Fearless like the pure State of Zen emanating from Buddhism.

The deep understanding of the ideas of impermanence and transience of Life, are enough to lead us to non attachment.

The idea of mental constructs, and the practice of emotional observance, towards the operatic theatre of daily Life easily lead you to pure Observant status.

Gradually You can understand the uselessness of Fear as an emotion.

And then having Fear as a guide to Life preservation becomes it’s only function all over again.

But it takes a whole lot of training to get there…

So for Westerners, here is what You can easily do to transcend Fear in it’s uglies manifestations.

At least this is what Pema Chodron counsels us all to practice…

So when I feel fear creeping in, and dragging my thoughts along with it, I found these words of Pema Chödrön’s so inspiring, that I would like to share them with You, in the hope that they can be of benefit in your own pursuit of Happiness:

“Once there was a young warrior. Her teacher told her that she had to do battle with fear. She didn’t want to do that. It seemed too aggressive; it was scary; it seemed unfriendly. But the teacher said she had to do it and gave her the instructions for the battle. The day arrived. The student warrior stood on one side, and fear stood on the other. The warrior was feeling very small, and fear was looking big and wrathful. They both had their weapons. The young warrior roused herself and went toward fear, prostrated three times, and asked, “May I have permission to go into battle with you?”

Fear said, “Thank you for showing me so much respect that you ask permission.”

Then the young warrior said: “How can I defeat you?”

Fear replied: “My weapons are that I talk fast, and I get very close to your face. Then you get completely unnerved, and you do whatever I say. If you don’t do what I tell you, I have no power. You can listen to me, and you can have respect for me. You can even be convinced by me. But if you don’t do what I say, I have no power.”

In that way, the student warrior learned how to defeat fear. ”

~Pema Chödrön: When Things Fall Apart: “Heart Advice for Difficult Times”

Yours,
Pano

PS:

That’s the Secret…

And Now You Know.