Lurking Presencce

"I learned that courage was not the absence of fear,

but the triumph over it.  The brave man is not he who

does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear."

Nelson Mandela

Throughout my life, I have been fear based.  In the midst of challenges, I had hoped to conquer fear once and for all, but it never happened.   Although I promised my young self never to live in chaos, I was shown that life was chaos just as fear remains a lurking presence.  Fear creates chaos in my life when I do not have the courage to step through it.  

Fear is an excellent warning bell, meant to be alerting us, but it should not ring with the slightest breeze.  Our hearing becomes selective as to which is actually an alarm while our vision discerns what is a self imposed obstacle.  Fear is limiting and prevents the forward movement of action.

So the chaos often swirling around me, I must walk in the midst of it, aware yet unaffected.  The fear streaming through me is obvious, but my focus overrides the limitations and succeeds in spite of its presence.  So perhaps appropriate perception and courage lead me to a better balanced existence.