“The only real prison is fear, and the only real freedom is freedom from fear.”
A little bit of fear is not a bad thing. I believe. However, paralysis by fear can be all-consuming.
As we think about freedom, we must consider it at not only at the societal level but also at the individual, psychological level.
Fear can keep one handcuffed to the past unable to move to the future.
Time to toss that fear out!
Categories: Culture, identity, Leadership, mental health, Psychology
psychologistmimi 
I could not agree more. I believe stress, anxiety and fear cause disease physical and mental – not to say they can’t exist without them but they are linked. It is not a weakness for a person to be afraid of stressed or anxious but it makes life harder. When I got sick I got anxiety from how ill I felt, it has not quite left me but I try really hard not to let it dictate my life, it is easier said than done but everything you said here is true.
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Oh wow. Thank you for sharing. I’ve been through something similar
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Sending you support and a hug xo
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Great post!
As with many things, a mild amount of fear seems to be necessary for our survival. However, as you eloquently note, being enveloped in fear can indeed become a prison. Balance is the key. 🙂
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Absolutely agree. Hope you are doing well
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Being chained to a past that cannot be changed is the most common prison. People imagine that they must not let go of the past because if they do it somehow justifies what happened to them. Living the same old pain over and over again, punishing the people who wronged you in your mind when there’s nothing you can do to them in reality.
It is why family get-togethers often become dysfunctional and often why nation states cannot be at peace with one another.
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I like your framing of this. Couldn’t agree more
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jm-upHSP9KU
Reminiscing on 66 Months of Hell And This 96 Months Yes 8 Years
i’ve Been Co-Creating Now Living Within On Earth Yes Heaven Real…
It’s True The Way i Got to Hell Was Basically Through A Life of Fear
It’s True it Will Be Kinda Unsettling Born Without The Ability to Speak
Until 4 When Every Other Social
Animal Is Chattering
And Bonding
So Easily
Around You
It Seems Thank
Real God of Nature
For Mama’s Soft Words
And Hugs For Oxytocin Heals
Like A Wonder Mammal Neurohormone
For Real Relieving So Much Anxiety For
Real As Fears Just Melt Away into Ice Cream of
Love
Soft
Mama
Hugs
Do Bring
With All the
SMiLes GLoWinG
Fair Skin Or GLoWinG
Brown Skin my Mama
Just Happened to Be
Very Vanilla Ice Cream White
If This Brings A Tear i Suppose
You Understand WHere i am Coming
From Here Yes The Home of Mama’s Love
Still Breathing Alive Even Though She took
Her Last Breath on 2.22.17 Mama Still Dances
And Sings Love Through me Yet Again Somewhere
Along the Line of Stress And Fear i Lost That Soft Touch
That Reaches out As Hugs Enough… The World Will Be Kinda
Mean For Social Animals Who Do Not Fit in Lord Knows Feels Senses
i Wasn’t
Even Really
Comfortable
in my Own Skin
Particularly Human
Clothes That Were not
100 Percent Virgin Cotton
So Hard to Touch All the
Dammed Man-Made Stuff Yes
3 Degrees From College So Great
With All the Input Just No Way to Get
All Of the UniVersity Out of my Mouth
Oh What Respite Systemizing Computers
Brought And It’s True Now It’s Really the
Revenge of the Nerds As We LiVE iNside
The Bits and Bytes of An Entire World
Online Constructed
By Nerds and
Geeks So
Lonely
And ‘Incel’
Just Wanting
to Download Pretty
Birds All Varieties As
Fast As Possible For Everlasting
Instant Gratification So Now We LiVE iN
A World of ‘Weird Science’ Indeed Hehe in
Yes Revenge of the Nerds Where Zuckerberg’s,
Gates’, And Even in More Zen Artistic Job’s iPhone Creations
Anyway Oh My God This Business of Becoming Human CuLTuRE
Will Be So Scary For Those of us Not So Socially Proficient So Difficult
Square Peg Fitting Into Spiraling World of Extraverted Wings Just So Hard
To Conform Decades For When You Do Not Make The Social Circle All Ya Become
Is A Valuable
Commodity
Honestly
That’s
What my
Boss Called
me A Valuable Commodity
And He said it was Normal
For One Person to Do 90 Percent
Of All the Work And i Thought that was
A Compliment And i Thought People Really
Liked me yet That Was Only The Customers Really
Not So Much The Folks Who Didn’t Really Wanna Do Any Work…
So Anyway After All Those Years of Perfectionism Trying to Fit in
And Conform i Fell Hard into Hell And Found Out All the Folks Who
Really Cared About me Were the Ones Closest to Home Except for
A Very Few
The Doctor’s
Said i had the Worst
Case of Anxiety and
Depression they Ever
Saw And Assured me
i Would Never Be Free
Of Anxiety Just No Chance
To Become Comfortable in this
Existence Again… No One Could Help
me so i Looked Deep Within And Found A
Flame of Fearless Finally In Words of Song
That Needed no Pre-Planning Just an Endless
Ocean Whole Water River of Soul Flow Springing Out
Finally
Free
in the
MaGiC
of Creativity
And Then i Danced
And What i made Dam Sure
of is i Would Never Fear What
Folks Though of me as Different Again
Yes By God i Stood in Front of the World
in my Underwear Even Posting myself that
Way on Facebook as i realized That if i couldn’t
Accept me All For Who i am it really never Did Matter
Whoever Else Could or Could Not For Real even my Closest
Loved ones And You Know What Some of my Closest Family
Members De-Friended me and What i Found is Love So Much
Thicker than Blood Those Who Stood By me Through my Entire
Journey i Needed to Go Through to Set my Self Always Fearless Free
And i did
And i Do
And there
Are Still a
Few Who Stand
By my side Yet Most
oF All i No Longer Fear
i Am Free and i am Healthier
Happier And Even Stronger Empirically
So 3 Times More in Leg Strength Than Any
Time in my Life at Age 61 And When The Elite Military
Dude’s Jaws Drop When i Still Leg Press up to 1520 Pounds
With Ease with my Arms Raised to The Air After Warming up
With my Own Form in Grace of Balance Free style Ballet Mixed
With Martial Arts That Need not Ever actually Strike an Object
i Explain to Them When they Ask How The Hell Do You Do this
At 61 Years-Old The
Source of
All Weakness
Is Fear the Strength
Of All Real Power is
UnConditional Love For All
Watch As i Lift this Weight As A Feather
Wind i am And Try to Understand Now
The
Wind
The
Water
All the Air
is God to Breathe Free Now
With Zero Illusory Fears Left
To Hold Wind Prisoner in a Jar
Truth is Wind Will Not Be Trapped in a Jar
Truth is ‘God’ Will Never Be Trapped in A Word
Stuck
On A Roof
Of A Mouth Either
Wind is Free
And So Is
Loving
Grace of Balance
Naked Wings of my
SoUL iN Will And Strength oF LIGHT
Fearing No Dark SoaRinG More As Wings
Star FLoWeR Seed Still GRoWinG Evolving SoUL…
There’s a Whole Lot More to Life Than Downloading Pics of Pretty Birds
And True There is that too Whatever it Takes to Prepare An Avenue to Soar
For Real
HeHe
‘Weird
Science’ too
And The MaGiC
oF LoVE Set Free
Fearless With Human Wings Indeed…
If Nothing Else At Least my Mother’s Love
Still Breathes
And Ya
Know
What God
Yes i Feel
And Sense
This Much
Is Complete
And Enough
Eternally Now Just This
Breath of Love (GoD) Now
i Be i AM Who Sees Fearless Free..:)
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