Fear… And Other Clouds 16 April 2015

There are times in life when one is obligated to do things that are hurtful to others and painful to oneself, times when these actions fall under the “cruel to be kind” category.
There are times when one puts one’s own needs and wants aside to be the best one can be for the greater good.
But there are more often times when we are just our own worst enemies.
I have sat back and observed several dramas unfold during recent months, sometimes heart-broken, sometimes stupefied, and the rest of the time just amused!
For me it has been the observation of the Law of Attraction in operation, because The Law is impartial, it neither labels events as “good” or “bad”, nor does it care if you are a “good” or a “bad” person, “what you sew you will reap”!
And then there is FEAR, Charles Haanel in his publication “The Master Key System writes;
“…but the one arch enemy of the Solar Plexus which must be absolutely destroyed before there is any possibility of letting any light shine is fear. This enemy must be completely destroyed; he must be eliminated; he must be expelled forever; he is the cloud which hides the sun, which causes a perpetual gloom”
Yes FEAR is indeed the enemy, and this I have observed and experienced many times in my life.
There is a principle taught in advanced driving instruction that one must not look at the thing you are trying to avoid… for many, this doesn’t make sense, and those used to driving modern cars with all the electronic drivers aids will understand even less. But some of us living in the backwoods, driving vehicles such as my 32year-old Ford learn the fun way that raw power delivered through a rudimentary suspension to the back wheels on unpaved roads results in a vehicle that very easily becomes a tail-happy monster, and here practice and instinct take over, when the tail breaks loose and the vehicle starts a power-slide, we counter-steer, turning right and modulating the throttle to go left!
Under these conditions intuition takes over, and we make sure to focus on where we want the vehicle to go to rather than what we wish to avoid colliding with.
So it is with fear, if we fear something consistently, you are PRAYING for that very thing to befall you!
What is YOUR biggest fear? Lack of money? Being alone? Becoming a victim of crime? Dread-Disease?
Do you FOCUS on that feared circumstance or event? Or do you focus on the positive action diagonally opposite that fear? As an example, let’s say that your fear is that your mate might leave you, you focus on that fear, you become possessive and jealous, you stalk, question, argue, doubt and suffocate that person until the very actions bred by your fear bring about the feared event, your mate leaves! Or do you focus on Loving that person? Being Grateful to; and for; that person?
It is important to add that there is more to this mechanism than just the cause and effect of your actions, there is a mental, spiritual side to this that outweighs the “cause and effect” of your physical actions, this is where the Law of Attraction comes into play, THOUGHTS BECOME THINGS! You create your own reality through your predominant thoughts!
Charles Haanel was SO accurate when he likened fear to a cloud that obscures the sun because another effect of Fear is that this emotion has the effect of colouring our perception of things, we get to a place where we are not able to see “the wood for the trees”, we fear so much the outcome that we suspend logical, rational thought and reasoning.
Years ago I found myself in a place where I was so caught in the hamster-wheel of life that I was craving solitude, I just wanted to be on my own, to have peace and quiet, to be able to get my mind into some kind of order. A bad relationship, financial pressure and a noisy city where wearing me down.
I did not pro-actively make that time for myself; I procrastinated over and over… FEAR… I feared losing that relationship because bad as it was, it was something, I feared losing the little bit of material things that I did have, because at least it was SOMETHING, I feared losing the bad customers I had, because they were better than no customers at all.
“People, events and Circumstances will align to bring about what you desire” we are taught, and over a period of time, I lost those things that I was holding onto SO hard, the relationship, the possessions, the work, I had to hit rock-bottom, I had to get to the point where I just had nothing left to lose!
In May 2008 I found myself living on a farm in the Kalahari, I might not have been COMPLETELY isolated, I was a mere 400m from the nearest humans, but days went by without ANY human contact. I had the peace and solitude that I craved for so long, and that solitude lasted 4 years!
“Jy huil net twee keer in die Kalahari, die dag wat jy daar aankom, en die dag wat jy weer trek”
“You only cry twice in the Kalahari, the day you arrive and the day you move away”
When I lay huddled up on the cold vinyl back seat of that immobile car that served as my shelter through the winter of 2006 I couldn’t see how that was a stepping-stone to my desire, there were times of despair I’ll admit, but I honour that time now. So often, the “worst” imaginable event hides the key to all of your desires.
Today I might not be a financially wealthy man, but I do have so much more, both physically and spiritually than I had before I hit rock-bottom.
We find ourselves in “comfort-zones”, we not even happy with what we have, but it’s too comfortable, and we fear too much the discomfort of doing the very thing that will make us happy.
“Do not pray for an easy life, pray for the strength to endure a difficult life” – Bruce Lee
How many stay with their spouses in an unhappy marriage because divorce would be too hard?
How many die a slow death sticking to a mundane, dead-end job because they fear not making a living if they leave?
How many merely survive because they fear living?
“To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all” – Oscar Wilde
I know someone who just a few weeks ago was telling me how unhappy she was with her life, no suitable companions, a landlord who keeps raising the rent, working for a company in financial trouble, no increase in salary for several years, the list went on and on, last night her greedy landlord informed her that she has 6months to vacate her apartment, he has other plans for the property. And she went into the pits of despair… I tried to encourage her, to point out that she already was not happy, that there is a silver lining, but my heart broke when I realized that she has just come to accept that bad things happen to her, she has no control over it, and she is doomed to loneliness and difficulty. I hope that her reaction was temporary, that she will recover and see the bright side of life again, because otherwise she is indeed praying for the life she has come to expect.
It is so hard to make people understand that THEY are the architects of their own lives; that they can and should CREATE their lives rather than to just sit back and allow life to happen to them.
So if FEAR is such an obstacle to happiness and success, then how do we overcome it?
Approach it rationally, find out all you can about that thing, many people are afraid of Spiders, and if you make the effort to read up on spiders you will find that there are in fact only 2 potentially deadly spiders in existence, and even in both of those cases treatment is effective.
Then face your fear, walk through the spider webs until they are nothing more than a sticky nuisance!
For many people a vehicle that has lost grip with the road surface and is starting to slide is a terrifying experience, and if you have never learned to control a drifting vehicle it’s a potentially fatal experience, so go out to an open place, a skid-pan is ideal, and throw that vehicle around until catching it and controlling it becomes second nature. Driving into town from my rural home, the twin track lane joins the unpaved Yellow Woods Road at a right angle and every time, Candy comes roaring onto the Yellow Woods Road with the rear wheels spinning, spraying gravel and mud as she slides sideways, and I grin maniacally at the sheer fun and exhilaration of the experience. THAT is the power of a fear overcome!
“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