Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves: who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?
Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God.
Your playing small doesn’t serve the world.
There is nothing enlightening about shrinking
so that other people won’t feel insecure around you.
We are all meant to shine, as children do.
We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.
It’s not just in some of us, it’s in everyone.
And as we let our own light shine,
we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.
As we’re liberated from our own fear,
our presence automatically liberates others.

MARIANNE WILLIAMSON

There are times when fear is good.
But.
Fear is a mind killer. All forms of fear produce fatigue.

Taoist believe that nothing is to be feared.
It is only to be understand.
They believe that we fear things in proportion to our ignorance of them.

Tai Chi Chuan is a martial art.

We will know failure, we must do things which we cannot,
things which we fear.
If we don't want to do things which we fear,
one excuse is as good as another.


What is keeping us back from living our life ? Perhaps we are too much dominated by social media, by public opinion asking, what is someone else going to think about it. Even in the small Tai Chi world there is a standard which other people have set for you and they demand that you conform to the image they have in mind.

We must have the courage to do things we fear.


Bad moon rising

Nothing is to be feared, it is only to be understood, bad things happen all the time. Courage is not the absence of fear but the triumph over it. Dive into danger, to live is to deal with danger, often we banish one danger and another one takes its place. We cannot banish danger, but we can banish fear. First we must accept our fears, often we don't want to admit that some of the worst things we fear are already inside us; finally there is only one real fear which is the fear of dying. Every fear, every defeat is just the fear of dying and to overcome it our ego must die. Fear of dying is fear of living since life and death are two sides of the same coin.


Immortality

We don't have eternal life until we are immortal. Since it's main goal is to seek immortality, the Taoist path to immortality is to follow the nature of all things. Therefore, "the sage lives in accordance with the Eternal Tao, the nature of all things". Eternal life you said? Well, eternity is a long time, but if we do not have eternal life the only real option is eternal death.


The ego must die

In advanced Tai Chi Chuan our ego must die. The ego is our image, it's an exaggerated sense of self importance, it's the sum of blockages that we collected during our life-long journey. The ego is always looking for excuses (in the past or/and the future). Which reasons and excuses do the ego use? "I can't, therefore I won't. I'm not ready, therefore I'm not ready for the martial aspects of Tai Chi Chuan. I've tried everything, therefore, nothing works. I'm not supported, therefore I don't have the strenght. Etc..." Our ego is very clever but, the truth is that with every excuse we are creating a new reality, and with every excuse we are creating new or other fears. The real warrior: "There is no excuse for doing nothing, life isn't fair, it really isn't". There is no excuse, family drama, hunger, living in war zones, divorcing parents, bad childhood, being unable to find iTunes on the computer doesn't guarantee a bad life. People can do a lot of horrible things to our body and mind, but can do nothing to control our mind. Only we can do this, we can choose the focus our mind takes, and no one controls that unless we let them. That's 'the Way of the Real Warrior': the ego must die.


Nature has no ego

It is said: "There is no superiority or inferiority. The true warrior has conquered death and therefore has no fear, or ennemies in his lifetime. He accepts that he has no clue about what is going to happen". Nothing is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Nature has no ego. The ego must die, if we do not have eternal life, the only alternative is eternal death.

Fear doesn't exist anywhere except in our mind.

About fear.

Fear is a mind killer. Fear doesn't exist anywhere except in the mind. All forms of fear produce fatigue.
Bertrand Russell.