Being Afraid...

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“You speak of being afraid. Yet fear is something you generate in yourself, from your mind’s lack of control; and you will learn to look at it and discover for yourself when you choose to be afraid. The first thing you must do is acknowledge that the fear is yours, and you can bid it come and go at will. Begin with this; whenever you feel fear that prevents choice say to yourself: ‘What has made me feel fear? Why have I chosen to feel this fear preventing my choice, instead of feeling the freedom to choose?’ Fear is a way of not allowing yourself to choose freely what you will do next; a way of letting your body’s reflexes, not the needs of your mind, choose for you. You have chosen to do nothing, so that none of the things you fear will come upon you; so your choices are not made by you but by your fear. I cannot promise to free you of your fear, only that a time will come when you are the master, and fear will not paralyze you.”

- Marion Zimmer Bradley