We Are All Afraid of Something-Daily Meditation 2.16.23

Today’s quotation:

We are all afraid of something.  But that shouldn’t stop us from going on every day.  We should not always walk in fear of the shadow while we are in the light. Indeed, we will not know when or how the complex and bad times will come, but if we accept that they will come, then they are easier to face when they do.
   And always remember that anything that causes the shadow is smaller than the source of light.-Joseph M. Marshall III.

Today’s Meditation:

Our fear is one of our most decisive motivational factors–so much of what we do and say happens because we’re afraid of how others will react if we don’t do or say certain things.  So much of what we don’t do, we don’t do because we’re afraid of the results.  That fear, though, is usually a liar, convincing us that it’s in our best interests to do a sure thing or not to do something.

I used to fear things coming in my future until I realized that if things were going to come, they would come no matter what I did or didn’t do.  Now I don’t fear them any longer because I’ve learned that they generally don’t hurt me permanently–they may cause me pain or discomfort, but the things I’ve feared in life generally haven’t ever been as bad as my imagination made them out to be.  And when I acknowledge that I have some fear, the fear is transformed into something manageable, something that can be helpful to me.

We can walk into a situation filled with fear, which takes away our strength, or we can walk into it knowing that something is going to happen and being ready to deal with it, no matter what.  Our fear should work for us, yet most of us allow it to work against us.  Find ways to accept your fear and work with it; you’ll see that most of what causes our fear isn’t worth fearing.

Questions to consider:

What does Joseph mean when he says that “anything that causes the shadow is smaller than the source of light.”

How can we transform our fear into something that works for us and helps us?

How have we learned the ways that we respond to fear?  Have we learned effective ways or ineffective ways?

For further thought:

All of us experience fear, but we can turn it into courage when we confront and acknowledge it.  Being courageous does not mean never being scared; it means acting as you know you must, even though you are afraid.-Desmond Tutu

If you missed yesterday’s Daily Meditation, it is right here!