So I’m watching LOST with my kids. We’re starting from the beginning and we’re going to watch all the episodes together.
In the early episodes, the main characters encounter the monster. It’s always in the shadows and is rarely seen. And it led to a great conversation about fear. My kids didn’t even see it, yet they were afraid. Their imaginations ran to the possibilities as opposed to what was actually happening.
In the first episode, Jack recounts a moment in surgery when he was overtaken by terror. It was interesting to hear his experience. For five seconds, he simply allowed himself to experience fear. He allowed the fear to do it’s work. It had arrived and so he gave into it. But then after five seconds he confronted it, and it went away.
I’ve been asking myself how I deal with fear. How often do I allow the fear to do it’s work? What I’ve observed about myself is that for the most part, my first reaction is to avoid fear. And in trying to avoid it, I give it more power. By avoiding it, I actually empower it with my resistance. My initial thought is that if I give into it, I’ll be agreeing to it, as thought fear’s message were true. But what I’m learning is that fear has value. It has work to do. Jack’s words remind me that there is a way through fear, but it usually begins with confronting it and allowing it do it’s work.
How do you experience fear?
