“Why fear something you know will happen again and again? That’s no way to live, and definitely no way to experience life.” —- Norm Bouchard
As a young child, I was fortunate to have parents who were extremely alert, active, informed and a bit ahead of their time and generation. Of course, they were timely in warnings of what might harm their children physically, but what was unusual that I later understood, was instilling awareness of one’s environment regarding people, places, objects, active or inactive conversation, the energy and/or posture of various individuals and a continuing cognizance of those present in any surrounding. Growing up with this subliminal active alertness in any given situation, has been an invaluable skill set for which I now completely understand and never question. Our role models imprint invaluable information for all of us to either assimilate or discard, contingent on how we discern the importance in our lives at any given time. Once again, we are products of our environment and orientation, and learning the consciousness of our being and knowing who we are, clarifies our existence.
Fear constructs invisible walls of terror that many individuals carry with them for an entire lifetime. We have friends, family members, colleagues and acquaintances, who telegraph in some cases the inability to function given their fear of failure, judgment, or criticism. How did this occur? Was it something that happened in childhood? In many instances when asked, when, how, where, why or what . . . many individuals don’t really know and have no clue. Henri-Louis Bergson stated this thought . . . “To exist is to change, to change is to mature, to mature is to go on creating oneself endlessly.” Change is inevitable for all of us . . . like it or not. What my parents shared with their children was the ability to be aware in an ever changing society, culture and environment while developing specific skill sets to adapt to those changes without fear, anxiety or apprehension.
The Science of Mind states it another way, “Our thoughts are the keys to changing our lives. What needs changing in your life this day? If you do what you always did you will get what you always got.” That’s pretty much to the point, and unfortunately we see many individuals lacking that initiative. Remember when we were asked early on . . . who do you want to be? The question should always have been . . . what do you want to be? This suggests an investment in a vastness of possibilities without limits. We’re the ones putting limits on our aspirations, hopes and dreams, due in part to an old belief system based in fear. Dispelling those fears can be extremely dangerous, you might find out who you really are and take that leap of faith and land in a completely different place. That’s right . . . as Science of Mind suggests, “Any time we feel misunderstood, misused, neglected, suspicious, afraid, we are spending our thoughts and wasting our time. Whenever we assume the feeling of being what we want to be, we are investing.” We are and continue to be the sum total of our choices, and products of our imprinting. It’s never to late to invest in a new choice, make a creative change and expanding what we still . . . want to be. —- JLR