Fear.

I've been thinking a lot about the concept of fear lately.  Fear in my own life, fear in other peoples lives and just ruminating about where the feeling comes from and how it can be a major conductor in the way that we live.  A good friend, who is also student of the CHEK system back in Australia; Nick Perry, once talked to me about this and the conversation has stayed in my mind ever since.  We talked about how we, as humans, tend to make decisions and act out of either love or fear, the latter being the more common or conditioned response.  You can see this response all around you; fear of missing out, fear of being rejected or not heard, fear of not having enough, fear of growing too quick, fear of doing the wrong thing; and our resulting choices ultimately create everything we see around us.  The alternative to this means to live your life and make choices out of love.  Choosing to do something because you love it, whether that means what you do for a job, how you communicate with your friends or family, or even how you choose to treat yourself.  Acting out of love, helps you to build a life that is an honest reflection of what makes you happy.  This is something that I have to remind myself every day and so I want to share the thought with you also, so that you too can begin to identify whether you are acting out of love or fear.  As Nick told me many years ago, when faced with a difficult decision always ask yourself, "what would love do" and you will never be lead astray.

I think the concept is worthy of some thought and self exploration and so I will leave you with some words from one of my favorite spiritual teachers, Osho:
"Whenever you see some fear, do just the opposite don't follow your fear instinct, because that is going to make you a coward.  It degrades your humanity.  It is a humiliation imposed by yourself.  Whenever you see some fear, go against it!  A simple criterion: whenever you see there is fear, go against it and you will always be moving, growing, expanding, coming closer to the moment when ego simply drops- because it's whole functioning is through fear.  And the absence of the ego is enlightenment; it's not something plus.  Just a simple principle: remember, anything that makes you afraid, fearful, is a clear indication of what you have to do.  You have to do just the opposite.  You are not to become a follower of fear, you have to fight your fear.  The moment you decide to fight your fear, you are on the way towards enlightenment."