Refuse To Be Afraid ~ Early Morning Thoughts

Looking back over the last several days, several themes became quite apparent. I kept trying to change the categories, but they refused to cooperate. What I kept trying to label as concern wouldn't accept that title. What I had determined was anxiety simply refused to put on the crown and sit down. Finally, late this evening what they would accept became perfectly clear - I was the one having difficulty accepting the "word."

I tried very hard to argue, very hard to persuade - but my mind simply refused to accept any arguments or persuasions. It would only deal with one word - fear.

There are people that talk about the three dragons that can steal life - The dragon of loneliness, the dragon of self-hate and the third powerful dragon of fear. There is much I admit I fear, and there is much I still refuse to admit to fearing. There is, of course, the reasonable fear that protects us - or makes us take action when needed. The kind I'm dealing with is the kind that can stop someone dead in their tracks. The kind that can eat away at someone until they are hopelessly enmeshed in the fencing around healthy thought or life.

I have a dear friend facing a medical procedure - her comment? "...I was kinda upset for a few days. But, I feel good, and I'm going to keep a positive attitude about this." What an upbeat attitude about things.

As further "living without fear" ... wander over to one of my absolutely favorite blogs - "Don't Make Me Get My Flying Monkeys..." read carefully the posts about Dale. There certainly is much to fear - but I find no evidence of it ... only positive attitude. (OK, I just had to borrow steal this picture from Laurie) - When talking about him being back in the hospital for a tune-up -- this is the picture he gives Laurie:

And then I read "Two Lucky People" and realize that with all Yen and Jesse have gone through fear is not really a part of where they are. The fear that was creeping over me concerning my physical problem is simply melting away. In short, I had something I thought was a boil - which isn't, and the swelling is spreading. I'll be at the Doctors tomorrow and will know more then. In the meantime, my mind had created an incredible set of theatrical pieces (Having spent many years acting, directing and writing - it happens!!) The worst part about all those "scenes"...they had no basis in reality only anxiety and fear.

Just as I required my speech students to do, I began a search on what other people had/have said about fear.

Fear is the main source of superstition, and one of the main sources of cruelty. To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom.
--Bertrand Russell

Courage is fear that has said its prayers.
--Dorothy Bernard

Remember that fear always lurks behind perfectionism. Confronting your fears and allowing yourself the right to be human can, paradoxically, make you a far happier and more productive person.
--Dr. David M. Burns

No passion so effectually robs the mind of all its powers of acting and reasoning as fear.
--Edmund Burke

One need not be a chamber to be haunted;
One need not be a house;
The brain has corridors surpassing
Material place.
--Emily Dickinson

It is when power is wedded to chronic fear that it becomes formidable.
--Eric Hoffer

You can discover what your enemy fears most by observing the means he uses to frighten you.
--Eric Hoffer

In life we don’t get what we want, we get in life what we are. If we want more we have to be able to be more, in order to be more you have to face rejection.
--Farrah Gray

None but a coward dares to boast that he has never known fear.
--Ferdinand Foch

Even the fear of death is nothing compared to the fear of not having lived authentically and fully.
--Frances Moore Lappe

I've grown certain that the root of all fear is that we've been forced to deny who we are.
--Frances Moore Lappe

Let the fear of danger be a spur to prevent it; he that fears not, gives advantage to the danger.
--Francis Quarles

There are nights when the wolves are silent and only the moon howls.
--George Carlin

Fear is the tax that conscience pays to guilt.
--George Sewell

A timid person is frightened before a danger, a coward during the time, and a courageous person afterward.
--Jean Paul Richter

Fear not those who argue but those who dodge.
--Marie Ebner von Eschenbach

Fear is a question: What are you afraid of, and why? Just as the seed of health is in illness, because illness contains information, your fears are a treasure house of self-knowledge if you explore them.
--Marilyn Ferguson

Fear is that little darkroom where negatives are developed.
--Michael Pritchard

To use fear as the friend it is, we must retrain and reprogram ourselves...We must persistently and convincingly tell ourselves that the fear is here--with its gift of energy and heightened awareness--so we can do our best and learn the most in the new situation.
--Peter McWilliams

The fear of death is more to be dreaded than death itself.
--Publilius Syrus

Feel the fear and do it anyway.
--Susan Jeffers

At first cock-crow the ghosts must go
Back to their quiet graves below.
--Theodosia Garrison

You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing which you think you cannot do.
--Eleanor Roosevelt

I'm not afraid of storms, for I'm learning how to sail my ship.
--Louisa May Alcott

The hens they all cackle, the roosters all beg,
But I will not hatch, I will not hatch.
For I hear all the talk of pollution and war
As the people all shout and the airplane roar,
So I'm staying in here where it's safe and it's warm,
And I WILL NOT HATCH!
--Shel Silverstein

--more to come

---Dragon picture
http://www.worldofwallpapers.nuche.org/wallpapers-fantasy-dragons-backgrounds.htm