Face Your Fears

During a long train trip that I recently took, I pondered the question “What is my greatest fear?”. In order to live a peaceful life I feel it’s important to do these kind of reflections from time to time. My answer to the question was “Losing what I believe is mine:
my loved ones, my health, or my home” (in that order).
The follow-up question had to be: How do I deal with these fears?
It doesn’t help to know that nothing, in fact, is mine. As the saying goes: “You possess only what will not be lost in a shipwreck”. I still cling to the ones I love, to my healthy
body and mind, and to my home.
Sometimes at night when I cannot sleep, or on days when my mood is low, these fears start circling in my head. “What if….?” It’s totally meaningless, useless and very scary. So what can I do to respond to these states of fear? I work on Equanimity.
Within Buddhism equanimity is an essential virtue. It could be defined as remaining centred when you are surrounded by turmoil, or as Pema Chödrön put it: “To cultivate equanimity we practice catching ourselves when we feel attraction or aversion before it hardens into grasping or negativity.” That may sound easy but the challenge is twofold: 1. Catching yourself when you’re getting stuck and 2. Not giving in to the temptation to dwell on your desires and fears “just a little bit…”. Not at all is key. I know,
having so often tried and failed.
With this particular fear of mine, however, the strongest antidote is to cherish what I love while it is still there. The power of habit makes it so easy to take what you have for granted and not really paying attention.
Everything you love can be lost at any moment. Don’t waste your time: show and tell your beloved ones how much they mean to you. Enjoy your healthy body and take good care of it. Be happy in your home, keeping it fresh and beautiful.

Two of my most beloved persons 💕

This entry was posted in Meditation, Mind, Quotes and tagged , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *