Fear makes us perceive the potential for change as the inevitability of loss.
Fear is a thief. It steals opportunity, growth, and relationships.
It tells us that, if we will lose control, we will lose everything.
It lies to us by saying that, if only everything stays how we think we want it, all will be okay, but that nothing is ever really okay.
Fear does not allow other people to help us. Fear does not allow us to help ourselves.
Fear is mind control.
It blinds us from seeing our potential.
It deafens us to the possibility of love, acceptance, and purpose.
It prevents us from speaking our truth, forcing us into conformity or isolation.
Fear binds us to itself, weighing us down so that we cannot ascend beyond our perceived place in this world.
Fear destroys our lives by convincing us that change is a threat to our security, our safety, and our future.
It tells us that different equates to death.
The truth is that a life worth living exists only beyond the boundaries of fear.
Fear may never go away, but we can learn how to live in spite of it.
The only thing we have to lose is that which is holding us back.
Holistic Budo: As it is in budo, so too it is in life. As it is in life, so too it is in budo.
Robert Van Valkenburgh is co-founder of Taikyoku Mind & Body and Kogen Dojo where he teaches Taikyoku Budo and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.
All photos by Robert Van Valkenburgh unless otherwise noted.
Follow Robert Van Valkenburgh and Holistic Budo on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr, and LinkedIn.
If you found this post helpful or meaningful in some way, please feel free to Share, Comment, and Subscribe below.