Fear is a Liar
Not what it seems
I was driving down the interstate one day and as one is prone to do I was reading bumper stickers. Bumper stickers are very ingenious actually - they garner a very large captive audience as they move down the road weaving in and out of traffic, passing around their message and getting in front of people who would normally never consume them otherwise. Bumper stickers impart their messages on anyone who comes near them and can have an unusually high impact for such a small investment by the owner. Every once in awhile a bumper sticker stands out with its message, be it because of its artistic creativity, humor, brashness or a bit of all three.
This particular day the memorable bumper sticker that I saw while driving pronounced “FEAR IS A LIAR”. It was pasted across the lower right corner of the back rear windshield of a tidy compact blue truck. This all struck me as something new, interesting and incongruent and made me smile. My reaction to the bumper sticker made me take notice that this might be a message I needed to hear.
As we grow up and move through life we are conditioned to fear FEAR. Fear is feeling that we like to avoid; that we work to get rid of, move around and move past. The feeling of fear brings up dread, anxiety and makes us physically uneasy. We may start to become defensive and shut down important senses, becoming myopic, leading us to miss very important moments in our lives.
Buying into fear prevents us from seeing the whole picture and from gathering all the information. We may miss important details about ourselves that could unlock growth and understanding of our deeper selves and inner workings. Reacting with fear leads to the choice where we get the obvious big clump of bushy green foliage instead of the juicy sweet carrot just below the surface. We end up with the greens instead of the carrot because our fear based decision seemed like the safe and right choice. We relish in being safe and being right. We even get an attitude of superiority about it.
Fear prevents us from seeing what is below the surface because fear keeps our view small and one dimensional. When we loosen the grip of fear, and even begin see it as a caustic friend, our lens becomes larger and the more we can see the possibilities in our lives.
Appropriate fight or flight fear can be useful, absolutely, but remember FEAR can most certainly be a LIAR.
Don’t let fear and the lies it tells you prevent you from picking the best carrots!