Hey In There,
You’ve practiced being afraid for so long that you’ve become good at it. So good that it’s easy. So easy, in fact, that you don’t even know you’re doing it. The only evidence you have of your fear is that you don’t know if you’re right or wrong. You’re afraid of being alone, and you’re afraid of finding the right person. You’re afraid of changing, and you’re afraid that if you do something different, you’ll have abandoned something meaningful. You’re afraid of lying, and you’re also afraid of being so honest that you’ll believe what you’ve rejected for so long—the obvious. You’re afraid of loving completely, and you’re totally unsure if your love is sufficient. You’re afraid of being wrong, and you’re afraid that if you’re right, you’ll lose everything you value. You’re afraid of questioning God, and you’re afraid to admit your ignorance. You’re afraid of living effortlessly, and you’re afraid that working too hard will make you miss your life. You’re afraid to admit that you don’t have it all, and you’re afraid to admit that you don’t need it all. You’ve actually believed you can go somewhere—anywhere—and find God missing. That fear makes you afraid to show up.
But what’s really at the heart of it all? The truth is, you have no skill for living in the beauty of the present moment. It’s not a fault of your character, but it’s what fear has done to you. Fear has convinced you that the present moment is somehow insufficient, that by living fully in this moment, you’re either missing something or putting something at risk. You’ve been led to believe that the future holds the answers, that the past holds your worth, but here—right now—there’s a beauty you’ve been missing, and it’s right in front of you.
The evidence for this is clear whenever you are not present. Fear, perhaps, is not just false evidence appearing real. It is proof that you have projected yourself and tried to live somewhere in your future. It doesn’t matter how near or distant that future is. Any attempt to excavate yourself from the present moment is proof that you are good at being afraid. It doesn’t matter if you are planning your future—that’s easily a noble excuse just to be distracted and miss who you are and the beauty of what is. The most efficient way to plan for the future is in the present moment. So, rather than focusing on any other moment, why not just optimize being in this one, and the necessary resources will find you in each moment, just as they have in this one. Trust it. Trust this, and fear not.
Fear is senseless.
If you fear death and your death is imminent, what profit is there in fearing the inevitable? Wouldn’t that just cause you to waste the moments of your viability? By the way, your viability is irrefutably imminent. You are alive now. So, could death really be upon you? Really? And if you’re afraid of someone else dying, it’s because you’re afraid of missing what you think you could have. You can’t lose a past that’s non-negotiable and changeless. All your memories are secure, even if you forget them, and any future moment can only live in fantasy. Pay attention now and love living.
What was the last thing you were afraid of that destroyed you?
The answer? Nothing!
Have you become so good at being afraid that you’ve failed to see your success in simply remaining, being, lasting, continuing, expanding, evolving?
You’ve practiced fear so long that the skill for simply being has atrophied. Fear has stolen the beauty of the present moment from you, and you didn’t even know it. But that doesn’t have to remain true. Right here, in this moment, you can begin again.
You could just as easily practice being fearless. You do this by simply loving. You do this by accepting. You do this by choosing not to argue with truth. The truth is here to serve you—to serve us. It’s been said, “You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” If this is true, then embracing any truth is the pathway to freedom. Do you think you could use your fear to judge the truth? Any attempt to judge the truth is an attempt to evidence or give proof to a lie. There is no lie that has proof to it. There is no truth that has the power to harm you. All truth has the power to free you if you “know” it. And if you know something other than the truth, it’s simply a lie. Don’t believe it; don’t practice the lie anymore. Lose your skill for fear.
Instead, cultivate the skill for living in the beauty of the present moment. The present moment is where life happens—where truth lives. It’s where you are enough, and where everything you are afraid of doesn’t hold power over you. In the present moment, you are the truth. You are alive. You are free.
The truth is real.
The lie is false.
What is real exists.
What is false does not exist.
The lie does not exist.
Only truth.
