Frightfully Victorious. . .
Why does fear evoke such a physical response in us? Fear has been an essential component of our survival as human beings for millennia.
First, fear is a feature of your hardware, not a bug in your software. The fear system is like the pain system… it often turns our attention to important issues. There are times when acting from fear is justified and useful.
As we know, avoiding the things we are fearful of doesn’t solve any problems but instead makes them worse. You may think avoidance and safety behaviors are healthy coping strategies because they do reduce your anxiety in the moment, but the opposite is true: Relying on these behaviors actually feeds and maintains your anxiety in these situations over the long run.
This is why facing our fears with courage and hope is everything. In fact, Buddhism views courage as an essential component of happiness. If you summon your courage to challenge something, you’ll never be left with regret. How sad it is to spend your life wishing, “If only I’d had a little more courage.” Whatever the outcome may be, it is important to take a step forward on the path that you believe is right. There’s no need to worry about what others may think. Be true to yourself. It’s your life, after all.
Living true to ourselves is hard but if we pause, then take a deep breath and meet our fears with courage and resolve, our lives will become frightfully victorious.
Peace and Love, Jim
#fear #thedailybuddha
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