Your Personal Pilot Light

Fear, Courage and Creativity

Lion image from Alexas_Fotos

The April 5 protests were a great reminder that people who love the rule of law, due process, peace, privacy, social justice, veterans, federal workers, expertise, and knowledge are, indeed, the majority in this country.

But uncertainty still rules the day, and like you, I’ve been feeling a lot of fear and anger since the end of January. This past cuckoo week was no exception.

As we all know, the Voldemort-in-Chief intentionally creates uncertainty because it triggers fear in most people. And instilling fear is his objective because fear creates acquiescence, timidity, and anticipatory obedience.

But fear is also a great motivator.

I mean, that’s one of the reasons we humans are so great at imagining the worst, right? Because it’s part of our survival kit. Fear will drive us to take action when most other emotions will not.

So fear can be crippling, but it can also be galvanizing.

Anger even more so.

Of course, feeling afraid sucks. Feeling angry isn’t much better really. And when we feel these emotions—or see them in others—we interpret them as bad or disempowering. We want to manage, control, or get rid of these feelings as fast as possible.

But fear and anger are a part of being alive. Trying to force ourselves not to feel them doesn’t seem like the answer. Especially because we’re in a situation where our fear and anger are quite legitimate.

But it’s hard to live in that soup of intense feelings everyday. And choosing to put our heads in the sand is no solution.

So perhaps we need to draw upon the power of those emotions instead of trying to get rid of them. Because really, what our fear and anger show us is what we care about most. What we want to protect. What we find most meaningful about being alive. What we love.

Basically, our core values.

And bringing our awareness to these real reasons behind our “negative” feelings can concentrate that scattered and draining emotional fire into a focused pilot light of purpose within.

Another name for that light is courage.

Courage is born from a willingness to draw the diffused blaze of fear and anger into a steady flame of calm conviction—a flame that receives its oxygen from what stands right behind that fear and anger: knowing who you are, knowing what you stand for, and knowing what you love.

When you do that, you stand in your sovereignty.

To stand in your sovereignty is to be filled with the true sense of your own dignity, your own unique value, and your right to be respected, take up space, and be yourself.

Standing in your sovereignty also allows you to freely access your creativity. This matters because in many ways our collective imaginations and creativity got us into this situation.

But they can get us out of it again—if we let them.

Stress, change, and fear have been the matches that spark human ingenuity ever since the days when we had to run from our predators on the savannah and thought, “Man, I’m tired of running. We need a new plan.”

Our survival as a species has always demanded that we convert the stress and fear that comes from change or danger into the courage to take action, to try something new, to look ahead, or envision something better.

Our survival has always depended on human ingenuity.

It’s our imaginations that have, in fact, always saved us.

Thoughts? Feelings? Agree? Disagree? Please leave a comment. I’d love to hear.