Friday, April 8, 2011

The F Word and the S Word

I've been writing a lot about the F word lately.

Fear.

Fear play such a huge role in our lives. Whether we see it as an obstacle or a road map, we spend a lot of time in fear, working with fear, trying to get past fear or through fear. Working with fear seems to be a significant part of being human.

But I'd like to talk about another word today. Just as important, maybe more so. And it's another of those words that sometimes makes us uncomfortable.

Spirit.

Sure, spirit is related to spiritual, which can be related to religious, which can bring up all kinds of issues and baggage depending on your upbringing and your current view of the world. Some people dismiss spiritual as new-agey, some people dismiss religious as fundamentalist.

But I'm talking about spirit as that mysterious essence, whatever your belief, that animates us. Spirit as the root of the word "inspiration."

When we're inspired, we work through our fear with ease. When we are inspired, we know we have a mission in life. We know why we're here, and it's easy to talk about that and share that with others.

Not everyone feels inspired, and those who do certainly don't feel it all the time. But inspiration can be like a wave that carries us to do more than we thought possible. Inspiration is personal, precious, and sometimes fragile. What inspires you is yours alone. No one can make you do or be anything  inconsistent with your inspiration unless you let them.

The end of the week is a great time to stop, take a breath (another meaning of the word "spirit"), and think about what inspires us. And if you're inspired to write about it in a comment, please do.

Have a great weekend!

Jeff

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2 comments:

  1. It strikes me that Fear is that 'thing' which gets between inspiration and committed action. When I act with hesitation born of fear, I get mixed results at best.

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