Working With Fear - Barre Center for Buddhist Studies
buddhistinquiry.org
Working With Fear - Barre Center for Buddhist Studies
This is precisely what the weak do everywhere. Through bitter experience they have learned how to exercise extreme care, how to behave so as to reduce the threat of immediate danger from their environment. Fear thus becomes a form of life assurance, making possible the continuation of physical existence with a minimum of active violence.
Howard Thurman • Jesus and the Disinherited
Joan Halifax, a Buddhist meditation teacher and writer, says that when fear is powering our reactions, we typically adopt a hard front (the critical cynic) to hide a weak back (lack of confidence that we can survive). She proposes that we turn this around when things get difficult, aiming instead to cultivate a strong back but a soft front. Having... See more