fear

Don't let fear or insecurity stop you from trying new things. Believe in yourself. Do what you love. And most importantly, be kind to others, even if you don't like them.

What__ the kindest thing you almost did? Is your fear of insomnia stronger than your fear of what awoke you? Are bonsai cruel? Do you love what you love, or just the feeling? Your earliest memories: do you look through your young eyes, or look at your young self? Which feels worse: to know that there are people who do more with less talent, or that there are people with more talent? Do you walk on moving walkways? Should it make any difference that you knew it was wrong _s you were doing it? Would you trade actual intelligence for the perception of being smarter? Why does it bother you when someone at the next table is having a conversation on a cell phone? How many years of your life would you trade for the greatest month of your life? What would you tell your father, if it were possible? Which is changing faster, your body, or your mind? Is it cruel to tell an old person his prognosis? Are you in any way angry at your phone? When you pass _ storefront, do you look at what__ inside, look at your reflection, or neither? Is there anything you would die for if no one could ever know you died for it? If you could be assured that money wouldn__ make _ou any small bit happier, would you still want more money? What has _een irrevocably spoiled for you? If your deepest secret became public, _ould you be forgiven? Is your best friend your kindest friend? Is it in any way cruel to give a dog a name? Is there anything you feel a need to confess? You know it__ a __urder of crows_ and a __ake of buzzards_ but it__ a what of ravens, again? What is it about death that you__e _fraid of? How does it make you feel to know that it__ an __nkindness _f ravens_?

Peace and love are just as contagious as anger and fear. Your mindset affects the people around you and perpetually changes the world. The question is - what kind of world are you creating? What new society are you thinking into existence?

Right on the other side of our fears resides hope and happiness. We get stuck in our lives afraid to walk over there when it__ a much kinder place.

Understand your driving force, whether you're operating out of fear or love. When we operate in fear, we tend to hold back and not get the most from life. When we operate in love, we open new avenues and experience life more abundantly.

If you fear doing something, don__ discourage others who are doing it.

I don__ regret or fear my problems and roadblocks. They have made me brave and given me the opportunity to overcome them.

Every day of our life has risk. So never fear to take one.

Failure comes from fear. Success comes from boldness and persistence.

Fear is a shadow of false perception and unreal imaginations.

When love is your power, then you will not have anything to fear.

If you fear to take risks, your life will always be risky.

The fearful seek to serve themselves by mastering the world, while the fearless seek to serve the world by mastering themselves.

Compassion is not prevention of all negative certainty, it is a home floating on the sea of fear, that equally brings assistance to those sinking.

Live with an open mind and an open heart. Always choose love over fear and kindness over cruelty.

Jesus was stoned, but no rock hit him. He slipped into the crowd and was found later teaching on a hill somewhere. History tells us that he did nothing wrong, and we sacrificed him anyway. The day my father died, I assured him he was headed for heaven, though I had a hard time believing in something that floated so aimlessly through the minds of children. The concept seemed fair and unfair in such equal amounts that it appeared to cancel itself out. I__ never met someone so deserving of eternal bliss, yet from the time I was a child I was taught we all deserve hell. I wondered if heaven existed at all. But I wanted everlasting life to be real for the man who let me lie on his chest on a hammock in the backyard and taught me not to fear thunder. One of the many things my father taught me not to fear. His breaths were labored and aided by machines. He wore a white hospital gown. I remember thinking, __ can__ believe my father__ going to die in a gown._ __re you afraid?_ I asked.__ot at all,_ he strained. ____ going to be with the Lord.__ wished I shared his confidence. For him, it was a priceless thing no one could take. I wished the fear of death was like the fear of a passing storm cloud__omething we outgrow with understanding. For men like my dad, I guess it was.

Jesus, who comes across in the Gospels as extraordinarily strong, begged in the garden, with drops of sweat like blood running down his face, that he might be spared the terrible cup ahead of him, the betrayal and abandonment by his friends, death on the cross. Because Jesus cried out in anguish, we may too. But our fear is less frequent and infinitely less if we are close to the Creator. Jesus, having cried out, then let his fear go, and moved on.

Love may challenge and love may correct but love will never shame. Love may call us out to uncomfortable places but love will never cast us aside. Love may demand but will never demean. Love will never ask us to dim our light lest we shine too brightly. Love will never ask us to be less than we were created to be.By this we know God. By this we follow Jesus. By this we serve one another.Love. Not fear.