An Antidote To Fear

How many times have you worried about something that never actually came to pass? We can spend quite amount of time imagining the worst and needlessly replaying future nightmares. In his poem 'On Fear" Khalil Gibran offers us words of advice which hopefully will encourage us to be more positive and less fearful of what lies ahead. Photo by Ben White on Unsplash

Transcript

Dear friends,

Have you ever been fearful of some future happening?

You might have been concerned about a job interview,

A medical appointment,

A visit to the dentist.

Maybe you have spent some time worrying about the future in general,

Advancing years,

The fear of declining health and the fear of death itself.

But if you look back over your life,

I am sure you will find many situations which caused you worry and concern at the time,

But which passed without difficulty.

Certainly I can recall many circumstances which caused me needless worry,

But everything turned out fine.

We might even find it difficult to recall these once-upon-a-time nightmares that caused us what turned out to be needless concern.

The following poem by Khalil Gibran is something which should provide comfort for all of us in those times when we are tempted to be fearful for the future.

Fear This is what he has to say on the subject of fear.

It is said that before entering the sea,

A river trembles with fear.

She looks back at the path she has travelled,

From the peaks of the mountains,

The long winding road crossing forests and villages.

And in front of her she sees an ocean so vast that to enter there seems nothing more than to disappear forever.

But there is no other way.

The river cannot go back.

Nobody can go back.

To go back is impossible in existence.

The river needs to take the risk of entering the ocean,

Because only then will fear disappear.

Because that's where the river will know it's not about disappearing into the ocean,

But of becoming the ocean.

A lesson for life offered to us by the wonderful Khalil Gibran.

Namaste you

Reviews

Lovely delivery...your gentle sincerity ringing through even as you recite others words 🙏🕯️🕊️🕯️🙏

Marvellous Tony B !! Helped me a lot this morning 🙏🏻🙏🏻

what a wonderful lesson thank you so much for sharing this with us today my wonderful friend Namaste

Just Beautiful ❤️‍🩹♾️💎Your beautiful manner and and accent radiate comfort and wisdom. Thanks so very much 🪽🪷🪶

I always come away from listening to Tony Brady feeling lighter.
Thank you for this gift.

Tony is one of my absolute favorite teachers. His wonderful, gentle voice and delightful accent are so soothing. His lessons always touch my heart. He and his wisdom are truly blessings. 🙏🕊🩷

Your contributions are like a breath of fresh air. Mahalo!

Beautiful words and lesson. Many thanks as always and Blessings for a wonder filled Holiday and New Year.🕊️🌲💜

Lovely reminder. This piece by Khalil Gibran is one I love, but hadn’t thought of in some time. Thank you!

Thank you for the reminder that often times when I am fearful about an upcoming event, it doesn’t turn out as bad as I expected.

Thank you. I worry about too many needless things, going through the outcome over and over again in my mind. Everything always works out as it should, so the worrying is infact not necessary. 🙈😇

Insightful easy to recall poem whenever I start to feel fear creep up on me. Thank you I liked that.

Thank you for the reminder. This day in 🇺🇸 is devastating to so many. To be able to turn to you & Insight Timer is saving me today. Namaste

Hi, Tony,
I must say I’m pretty disgusted and concerned with our election results. They don’t bode well for the US or the world. I’m pretty able to move forward in the moment and realize I am currently still safe and enjoying the privileges and good fortune of my life, but I don’t hold a lot of expectation for a future where we might see better treatment of immigrants, diverse citizens or even our workers. And the hard work of stabilizing the environment is now seriously impeded at a critical time. But this is what we have. There were never any guarantees that humans would be able stewards of themselves or their environment.
I don’t feel much like we’re becoming the ocean. Maybe a bit more like we’re going down the toilet. But I’ll hold on and live it day to day, as always.
Thanks for the encouragement, Tony, but it is a sad and fearful day in America.
As always,
Donna

Thank you for this timely reflection, I try to remember everything happens for a reason that keeps me living without fear of what might happen. That is of course is living in the now.

Tony, this is a great and prescient reminder. Thank you once again for exactly what I needed.

Thanks Tony. I'm trying to focus on impermanence at the moment. 🙏

I have spent too much time worrying about things that never happened. Mark Twain said worrying is like paying a debt you don’t owe. Thanks as always Tony 🙏🏻