The God

The God

Friday, July 20, 2007

Facing Fears

Yesterday, I joined some friends on an excursion to Dollywood to ride the roller coasters. We had a fantastic day with lots of fun, screams, and my abundant use of the word "SHIT" while speeding along the tracks of those coasters. Last night, being too tired to sleep, I lay pondering the day and the fact that I rode every single roller coaster at that amusement park without a second thought. As early as 15 years ago, I would have been under extreme stress at the very thought of riding a roller coaster and, more often than not, I would have avoided even going to an amusement park. The things scared me to death....but....I faced my fear and now, I may still scream SHIT while on them but I'm on them and enjoying them.

I believe that part of the growing process is to deal with fears...to face them...and overcome them. We all have fears...at least I think we all have fears. In my humble opinion, only a fool isn't scared of something!

I have faced many fears and overcame most of them...but still there are a few that remain. I can face down a fear of hurling through the air at 60+ MPH on a metal monstrosity called The Mystery Mine, but have trouble telling the person I have feelings for that..well...that I have feelings for him. I ask myself why I can't tell him and the answer is fear...fear of not having the feelings returned. Now, my fear isn't the only thing that keeps me quiet as there are other circumstances as well...but the one part of the story that I must truly own as my own is the fear.

Circumstances being what they are keep me from facing the fear of telling of my feelings and not having them returned but also lead me to a new fear...one that I must and will face. The fear of living a life without someone I care deeply for. For my own sake, as much as for his, I will have to let go....it won't be easy and it won't be quick...but it must be done.

Why the rambling? Is there a point to this post? Well, hell....not really other than it is an outlet for me to have some release....OH wait....there is a point...and that is...

We must face our fears not just to overcome but to grow and become stronger. I can't say it any better than this:

"You gain strength, courage and confidence by every expierence in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself. "I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along."" ~~ Elenor Roosevelt

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The Goddess

The Goddess

DECLARATION OF THE FOUR SACRED THINGS

The earth is a living, conscious being. In company with cultures of many different times and places, we name these things as sacred: air, fire, water, and earth.

Whether we see them as the breath, energy, blood, and body of the Mother, or as the blessed gifts of a Creator, or as symbols of the interconnected systems that sustain life, we know that nothing can live without them.

To call these things sacred is to say that they have a value beyond their usefulness for human ends, that they themselves become the standards by which our acts, our economics, our laws and our purposes must be judged. No one has the right to appropriate them or profit from them at the expense of others. Any government that fails to protect them forfeits its legitimacy.

All people, all living things, are part of the earth life, and so are sacred. No one of us stands higher or lower than any other. Only justice can assure balance: only ecological balance can sustain freedom. Only in freedom can that fifth sacred thing we call spirti flourish in its full diversity.

To honor the sacred is to create conditions in which nourishment, sustenance, habitat, knowledge, freedom, and beauty can thrive. To honor the sacred is to make love possible.

To this we dedicate our curiosity, our will, our courage, our silences, and our voices. To this we dedicate our lives.

Taken from The Fifth Sacred Thing by Starhawk