Jesse Sample’s Freak of the Week airs EVERY TUESDAY at 5pm Eastern ONLY on RadioRadioX.com
This is Jesse Sample. How much time do you spend in a state of fear? A quick and loose inventory of just some of the things that can go wrong can render a list that is truly breathtaking. I think this is what some of the people in my life mean when they say they are experiencing “anxiety.” But no, perhaps that’s too limited a description. Our emotional lives don’t exist in static states, but rather in varying environments amid rivers of habit and mountains of belief. When Tony Soprano passes out, it’s not the result of the single appearance of something that displeases him. It’s the reminder of an internal world composed of shifting plates of belief, grinding up against each other resulting in volcanos and earthquakes. It’s not one simple reaction. He lives there all the time.
I don’t have to go to Hollywood or North Jersey to observe this principle. I merely need to have the presence of mind to look inside and honestly consider what I’m feeling. I’ve had plenty of times in my life where I walked around within an aura of fear. I wasn’t even aware that I was feeling that way and perhaps that’s a clue to why I stayed in that space so long. You can’t change what you can’t see.
This week, I’m visiting the Dominican Republic with some friends. And even in this literal paradise, I found a way to scare myself for a couple hours. The contrast between the outside world and my inside world was so blatant, that I stumbled into an awareness of how I do fear and maybe how other folks do it too. We make it up!
Things go sideways in this life and challenge always presents itself. Pining over it is useless and probably counterproductive. We address the world in front of us and there is no downside to going in with an optimistic attitude. It could probably lead to better outcomes but more important, consciously pointing sun into that internal world changes what is normal. If we’re making the whole thing up, might as well enjoy ourselves.
Thanks to all you birds of paradise tuned into Radioradiox.com. This is the Freak of the Week, “Down in the DR.”
