Western culture views tenderness as weakness and repression of feelings as strength, but actually the opposite is true. Courage is born in the willingness to feel all of our human emotions, including the tenderness of a broken heart. The ideal of warriorship is that the warrior should be sad and tender, and because of that the warrior can be very brave as well. A little known fact is that too much emphasis on "hope" in our lives only heightens the fear factor. We think to ourselves, "At least I can hope." But by emotionally investing in certain outcomes, we place a heavy burden, like giant boulders, in our backpack. Carrying around all that extra poundage grows exhausting, our happiness balanced precariously on this result or that. Trumped up hopefulness, unfortunately, is awash with attachment, disappointment just waiting to happen. Both hope and fear can become habit-forming, two sides of a repetitive volley. But rather than following the bouncing ball as it alternates between these two extremes, salvation is found in learning to stop resisting reality and simply accept what is true in the moment. Though it may feel counterintuitive, instead of closing down in the face of fear, the secret lies in choosing to open up. Open-heartedness, as the antidote to fear, goes a long way toward inspiring the boldness necessary to realize our most precious dreams and helps us through the particularly dark nights of the soul.
Posted on: Wed, 10 Jul 2013 14:33:55 +0000
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