Fear...

I have been thinking alot about fear recently. I'm sure you have read all sorts of stuff of getting over your fear or eliminating your fear or finding ways to do stuff inspite of fear.

It seems that all of them only deal with the fear it self, but never delve into the cause of the fear.

I took a course recently where they delt with fear in a new way for me and I am practicing the game called dissapearing fear.

First off they say that there are two types of fear. One is a physical threat to you or someones well being. Like a gun to the head or fire, etc... The other fear is a story and is irrational. Like the fear of relating. Or the greatest fear of them all... you know it... say it with me.... The fear of failure!

Failure is a story. nothing more, nothing less... It is based on not facts, but something you say you know. Think about it. Pluto was a planet. It was a fact for my whole life. now at 40 they have down graded pluto to something else! Science is doing this all the time and even then, there is no absolute proof they are right then too. so what does Pluto have to do with fear?

Great question... It is just to prove a point that the only thing that seems certian is that there is nothing certian. Fear of failure is just something you made up. Either you are basing it on experience, which is not a truth, but what happened right then and depending on how you looked upon it, it may or may not have been the failure you said it was...

Or it is based on lack of experience..., but is it? It usually is based on a story. Either someone told you it was true or you thought you saw it happen, or you belive it to be true. The common factor is that you just don't know. Most times this kind of fear has some roots in something that happened in the past and now is being carried to the future. IT IS ONLY TRUE BECAUSE YOU HAVE SAID SO...

There is no how to, to dissapearing fear, only the distinction that any fear that is not physically immediate, is only a story that you made up. Once you feel that, you are free to make something else up in it's place. Hey, I'm not saying to go jump off a bridge because you havent tried it and you think you can change the fear... What I am saying is that the story of failure is based on you story adn it can be re-written in a responsible manner. If you need to look at the previous post for what responsible is. then look at being at the cause of a powerful life.

If you need an example... ask me how I turned a three year wait list into a five day list. or how I added a zero. or how I said I would have a show in NYC and did...

Fear is only an option if you say it is and look to seek failure. Thomas Edison was asked about the many thousand times he failed to create the lightbulb and he replied that he has succeded in finding many thousands of ways not to make a lightbulb.

Beginner's Mind

BEGINNER’S MIND “In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s there are few.”

People say that practicing Zen is difficult, but there is a misunderstanding as to why. It is not difficult because it is hard to sit in the cross-legged position, or attain enlightenment. It is difficult because it is hard to keep your mind pure and practice pure in its fundamental sense. The Zen school developed in many ways after it was established in China, but at the same time, it became more and more impure. But I do not want to talk about Chinese Zen or the history of Zen. I am interested in helping you keep your practice from becoming impure.
In Japan we have the phrase shoshin, which means “beginner’s mind.” The goal of practice is always to keep our beginner’s mind. Suppose you recite the Prajna Paramita Sutra only once. It might be a very good recitation. But what would happen to you if you recited it twice, three times, four times or more? You might easily lose your original attitude towards it. The same thing will happen in your Zen practices. For a while you will keep your beginner’s mind, but if you continue to practice one, two, three years or more, although you may improve some, you are liable to lose the limitless meaning of original mind.
For Zen students the most important thing is not to be dualistic. Our “original mind” includes everything within itself. It is always rich and sufficient within itself. You should not lose your self-sufficient state of mind. This does not mean a closed mind, but actually an empty mind and a ready mind. If your mind is empty, it is empty for anything; it is open to everything. In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities; in the expert’s mind there are few.

Getting exactly what you needed

How many times have you had something come to an end and were upset about it? I don't know it to be true, but I have found that usually it is st the end because you got exactly what you needed from it.

I will give an example:

Suppose you meet someone. You start off having a great time. They challenge you, excite you, etc... Things get to a point you never thought possible. Then they dissapear. WOW! how many people have had that happen?

Now at first there are many responses you could have. Anger, resentment, jealousy, self doubt, etc... that is life? Well... is it?

Think about it for a minute. Why are you upset? list out all of the answers and you will find that very few point to you. Why not take the stance that they gave you everything you needed for that time? For that moment?

Why give power to something that you really will never have an answer to, which is why?

OK this happened to me in my life. I flipped inside. I was crushed, but I tried desperately not to make them wrong. then I started to take stock of what happened. They gave me many gifts, grace being the one that it so often overlooked. They gave me tremendous pleasure and a new found self view. So why be mad? Well I'm human, but I am a human that has a little bit of interspection. And I get that she gave me all that was possible for that moment and I am greatful.

So if a relationship, career, friendship, etc... comes to an end, look towards what it gave you and see that it was all that it could give and move on.