Answers to My Wonders

Since my last post and my list of wonderings, I have done some thinking and believe I have the answers to my questions...at least to most of them. (http://joyfulleadership.blogspot.com/2010/06/just-wondering.html)

What I believe is that whenever we humans are behaving in an irrational way, we are responding to some sort of fear. It doesn't have to be of the knee shaking variety of fear, it can be more subtle. In fact, most of the time, I don't believe most of us even know any fear is present.

For instance, my question about why people wear sunglasses indoors or on cloudy days tells me that the person is afraid of being seen as they truly are. They may be hiding behind dark lenses, or perhaps are just trying to appear to be cool to those around them. In either case, if they knew they were perfect the way they are, they wouldn't need sunglasses when there was no sun.

Some of my listed wonderings involved a lack of respect for others. Again....fear is my answer. When we are afraid to be with ourselves in an unconditionally loving way, we will surely have judgments about others. We may also fear that someone will get ahead of us in line or in traffic, or we may fear being taken advantage of, or perhaps overlooked. When we're fearful in anyway, we react. Often times it is unreasonable and sometimes even borders on silly.

I can go on here about my overall logic about fear, but I would like to address fear's opposite, which is love.

When we are in a state of love, we are naturally joyful, patient, forgiving, understanding, compassionate and fair. We are also in a state of peace when love is where our mind and heart happens to be resting.

If I am loving myself, I have no fear about what other's may think of me. I have no fear of how I look. I have no fear for the future or of anyone taking advantage of me. If I am not judging myself, I am also not judging others. Love is that soft and lovely place in my mind and heart where I know that all is well with me and all.....no matter what.

Of course, like the rest of my fellow humans, I slip into fear from time to time. The good news is that I'm usually aware when it happens. As long as I know I'm in fear, I can always find my way back to love.

How do I know when I slipped into fear? Simple...it doesn't feel good. Love feels much better.