BEING FEARLESS IN A CULTURE OF FEAR ByJacqueline Wales605 words
We live in a culture of fear that is only too real when you consider the amountof violence in the world. But there is another kind of fear that is primarily imaginary.We fear the worst in our minds. We fear dying, we fear intimate relationships, wefear for our health, we fear for our finances, we fear for any number of things thathave not yet happened. And in living in that fear, we curtail a life that could be filledwith joy, with desire, with a rich abundance of what is good about the world we findourselves in. We spend too much time in the what if's of negativity, and not enoughtime with the what if's of abundance.So here we are on the anniversary of September 11 once more and perhaps itis time for us to think about moving on. That's not to say we should forget. Thememories will always be sharp on that fateful day. We will always remember wherewe were when we heard or saw the news. I was in Paris at the time, sitting in a smallbakery on the corner of the street where my daughter was going to school, havingafter-school snacks. It was a daily ritual. I will never forget the sharp intake of breath I took as I watched the tower crumble. That memory will be with me forever.But moving on is so much more than memorializing the departed and theevent. It is about taking charge of your own life so that you can start to experiencethe joy and wonder of living a full life on your terms. I call it creating the life youwant. We are all capable of getting tied up in our fears. Of taking them as real. Butthey are not. They are in our heads. They are not tangible. They are not somethingwe can touch. They are something we can imagine. And if we can imagine thenegative, how much more satisfying is it to imagine the positive. To dream and wishfor something better in our lives.For many, living means surviving. We have survived so many challenges, somany ordeals that have made us who we are. We face these challenges withcourage, or not. We step up to the events of our lives, and for some, they thrive, butfor others, they are merely surviving. We live a half-shelf life. So where are you inthis equation? Are you thriving or surviving. What do you choose?We are all capable of creating joy. It is about choice, and even when it feelslike we don't have a choice, we’re choosing to stay where we are. We can easily freeourselves from the glue of discomfort if we really want.When September 11 occurred, several American friends in Paris said theywould have to live their lives much more cautiously. I said if we change the way inwhich we live because of the threat that exists out there, then the people who wantus dead have won. I could not accept that.
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