Fear attaches itself to us.
It seeps into the cracks and crevices of our wounded souls and makes itself at home.
Like a parasite, it feeds off of our life-force.
By separating us from God and our fellows, fear traps us in isolation.
It envelopes us, weighs us down, and suffocates us from the inside out.
We cannot run away from our fear.
Nor can we power through it.
The only way to overcome fear is to sit with it, face it, and make friends with it.
By becoming intimate with fear and the parts of ourselves within which it finds a home, we take away fear’s power.
We can never be rid of fear altogether because there will always be some vulnerability in our spirit or psyche to which fear will find a way to attach itself.
If we allow it to, however, fear can actually guide us to these places within ourselves to which we may have otherwise remained strangers.
Fear is like a beacon. calling attention to the shadows of our souls.
For this reason, we should be thankful for our fears because, without fear to force our growth, our lives would be very shallow indeed.
‘Attention To The Shadows’ by Robert Van Valkenburgh
HOLISTIC BUDO: As in Life, so too in Budo. As in Budo, so too in Life.