On Fearlessness

 

Trick or Treat?, Lanikai, HI, October 2020, iPhone 11 Pro © Steven Crisp

On Fearlessness

You, my friend, are fearless

And if you think otherwise, please,

Please, know that you can be fearless, 

Just as you are, right now

How so?  Simply this:  Understand that fear

Only exists in the past or the future

You know that from your own experience

Don’t believe me?  Please think, my friend

Think back to a time when you were

Exposed to grave physical danger

Do you remember how, it seemed,

That time, itself, slowed down?

That was you, living fully in the present moment

Remember?  There was no danger or fear; only

Whatever action was needed in the moment

This is the power of being fully present

And so, my friend, please free your mind 

From its shackles of the past and the future

Abide in the timeless, eternal Now, and know

This is where Peace and Love reside

Go there often, my friend, 

Return again and again,

Be that which is your true nature 

And become fearlessness itself

On Fearlessness

Don't Fall, Tel Aviv, Israel, November 2012, Nikon D600 with FX 28-300mm VR lens, 
28mm, 1/500 sec @ f3.5, ISO 100, -0.3 EV, no flash © Steven Crisp  [Click on the photo to enlarge]

Stop!  Don't Jump!  Or Slip and Fall!  Or get accidentally pushed over the edge!

Do you ever have that feeling of vertigo when you get near the edge of a top floor on a tall building?  What is that exactly?  I'm not sure, but it does lead me into my topic today.

And that is fear, and its alternative, fearlessness.  It's something I've been struggling with a little just under the surface of my everyday existence.  

Things going well, life arranged as one had planned, financial situation comfortable, family situation wonderful, etc. etc.  Pretty much the definition of happiness.  And yet there is the small tingle of underlying fear.  Nothing grave.  Just that lingering worry that at any instant, something beyond your control could completely topple your well organized life.  A major illness, or an accident, or a financial scandal, etc.  (I know, this is the kind of problem many people, facing real tangible crises and challenges, would like to have.)

I think these fears are common, but my sense is they are preventing deep, abiding inner peace and contentment.  This morning I received this article on fearlessness by one of my favorite spiritual authors, Thich Nhat Hanh.   My plan is to reflect on it and see to what extent I can work on addressing this underlying fear.  We'll see how it goes.

Oh, and have no fear ... no flowers were hurt during the photo shoot ;-)

Day 42: Who says the party's over?

The Party's Over, Amherst, NH, New Year's Day 2008,

Nikon D40, 35mm focal length equiv. 54mm, Exposure 1/60 sec @ f4.5, ISO 200, with flash, exposure bias -2/3,

 © Steven Crisp [Click on the photo to enlarge]

The party's over.  The friends are gone, the uneaten food has been put away, the dishes washed, and even all those drinking glasses have been cleaned.  Yes, we had some eclectic drinkers that night.

But who say's the party has to be over?  Who says one has to save parties for New Year's Eve, or birthdays, or even just weekends?

Why must it be party and non-party?  Why can't it be all one big continuous party?

I don't mean some drunken-frathouse weeklong-banger.  I mean seeing life as the party.  With all the anticipation, the friendliness, the sociality, the camaraderie, and with enjoyment, all the time, that might otherwise be relegated to those special occasions.

You say the "rest" of your life -- that work-a-day world -- doesn't fit the definition of a party?  Well perhaps that's the thing you need to examine.  What is it you fear about finding work, or making your current work situation, something you enjoy enough that you can consider it to meet the criteria of your life's party?  

I read this blog post called "The Great Fear".  It's a well-written wake-up call to those who have too much inertia, or too many reasons stopping them from being the life of their own party.  But in that blog, I particularly enjoyed this quote about "My Greater Fear":

"For me, I have what I will call, for lack of a better term, My Greater Fear. It is that I will live a perfectly unexceptional existence with this exceptional chance I have been given. My Greater Fear is that I will rot beneath a matrix of fluorescent lights staring at the carpeted walls of a cubicle, or that I will wake knowing exactly what I will be doing every minute of every day for the rest of my waking life, or that I will wait until I am old and enfeebled to give myself permission to live."

Yowsa!  That does indeed sound like the greater fear.  So come on.  Make your life the party you want to crash, and then go crash it!  We only have one ticket for this merry-go-round.  So make the most of it.

• Donation:  to the site of this blog post, the Path Less Pedaled.
• Exercise:  Walking around Einsiedlerhof, Germany on my work trip (15 mins).