We die by the fears we bring to life
Our fears becomes our realities. I think of a friend who went to a home he was fixing up, bringing with him a gun, just in case something should go wrong, and he should need it. He placed it in a cupboard, and somewhere along the line, didn't realize he had cocked it.
When he reached in to get it, it went off, spraying lead into his chest and stomach and shoulder. He could have died.
Now, the idea that something could go wrong needn't have been a thought for him to give life to. By packing a gun along with him, and cocking it, he allowed the fear to have some reality in his mind. He almost died by a fear he gave life to.
There are other ways this thought is true, that we die by the fears we bring to life. I think of myself, and a time when I had too much work to do, and allowed my wanting to get it all done drive me into a panic. I suffered a mini stroke. Now, if I just had relaxed -- not worried whether I could and would accomplish it all -- I would have been all right.
Fear brings its own fall.
I would been fine if I had not supposed I needed to accomplish so much. I gave life to the fear that all needed to be done. And, by giving that fear a life, I could have killed myself. Give fear a life of its own, and it will take the lives of others.
Stress kills, as much as anything, I would guess. When we fear something, we create stress for ourselves. The oft-uttered advice, "Just relax," is simple, but it is the wisdom of the ages.
Sometimes, we might even allow our imaginations to go crazy, supposing someone is out to hurt us, or destroy us, or bring a bullet to our back. True, sometimes others do with us harm. But, often they mean no harm at all, and it is all in our imagination. In such case, we give life our fears by believing in them. They cause us to panic, and our panic brings us harm.
"The only thing we have to fear, is fear itself," Franklin D. Roosevelt said.
"For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind," it says in II Timothy 1:7. I think of how we should not fear losing, for two reasons:
One, the fear of losing brings losing itself. The person who becomes fearful of losing places that seed in his own mind.
Two, if you are not capable of accepting defeat, you will bow under the weight of that defeat. This need not be so. A person who is stable, and -- as the scripture says, "of a sound mind" does not fear defeat. He will live with it if it comes his way.
The fears we entertain become the realities we live. If we dance to our fears, they will spin us away.
When he reached in to get it, it went off, spraying lead into his chest and stomach and shoulder. He could have died.
Now, the idea that something could go wrong needn't have been a thought for him to give life to. By packing a gun along with him, and cocking it, he allowed the fear to have some reality in his mind. He almost died by a fear he gave life to.
There are other ways this thought is true, that we die by the fears we bring to life. I think of myself, and a time when I had too much work to do, and allowed my wanting to get it all done drive me into a panic. I suffered a mini stroke. Now, if I just had relaxed -- not worried whether I could and would accomplish it all -- I would have been all right.
Fear brings its own fall.
I would been fine if I had not supposed I needed to accomplish so much. I gave life to the fear that all needed to be done. And, by giving that fear a life, I could have killed myself. Give fear a life of its own, and it will take the lives of others.
Stress kills, as much as anything, I would guess. When we fear something, we create stress for ourselves. The oft-uttered advice, "Just relax," is simple, but it is the wisdom of the ages.
Sometimes, we might even allow our imaginations to go crazy, supposing someone is out to hurt us, or destroy us, or bring a bullet to our back. True, sometimes others do with us harm. But, often they mean no harm at all, and it is all in our imagination. In such case, we give life our fears by believing in them. They cause us to panic, and our panic brings us harm.
"The only thing we have to fear, is fear itself," Franklin D. Roosevelt said.
"For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind," it says in II Timothy 1:7. I think of how we should not fear losing, for two reasons:
One, the fear of losing brings losing itself. The person who becomes fearful of losing places that seed in his own mind.
Two, if you are not capable of accepting defeat, you will bow under the weight of that defeat. This need not be so. A person who is stable, and -- as the scripture says, "of a sound mind" does not fear defeat. He will live with it if it comes his way.
The fears we entertain become the realities we live. If we dance to our fears, they will spin us away.
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