Tag Archives: fear

Anew

dictionary with letter A

Anew: (adv.) in a different and typically more positive way or method.

Perhaps it is an entire field of study–discovering the difference between anew and recycled.

Because I am frequently inundated with ideas, proposals and even art which people insist is fresh and innovative that I have not only seen before but have actually performed.

What does it take to make something truly anew? The question is so baffling that some folks take the Solomon approach and begin to insist that there IS nothing new under the sun.

But I am much less jaded and very hopeful that not only can “anew” be discovered, but if I’m willing, I can possibly find myself being a conduit to birthing freshness.

I can think of three things that open the door to starting anew:

1. Confronting your fear.

Most original ideas are smothered somewhere between the brain and the tongue. People are frightened of being too different or too weird.

2. Understanding what’s needed instead of just what’s wanted.

There are things that human beings desire which are contrary to the common good. There are other things we repel which in the long run, not only cuddle us in confidence, but nourish us to salvation.

3. Try it.

Yes, there is a power in just experimenting with freshly hatched notions instead of wearing them out with continual discussion, voting and indecision.

I think it is possible for us to start anew instead of just recycling old ideas. But to do so, we will have to allow ourselves the expression of our soul without editing, and forgive ourselves when later abridging or expansion becomes necessary.

 

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Amoral

dictionary with letter A

Amoral: (n)  lacking a moral sense of right and wrong.

What is morality?

It has changed so many times in my lifespan that if I did not have a sense of humor, I would risk becoming jaded.

I have watched the Moral Majority peak and decline, becoming the minority.

I desire some stability. I think morality orbits a single shining sun of promise:

Don’t kill.

  • Don’t kill yourself.
  • Don’t kill others.
  • Don ‘t kill faith.
  • Don’t kill hope.
  • Don’t kill love.

There you go.

What kills me is dependence and addiction.

What kills others is alienation and gossip.

What kills faith is cynicism.

What kills hope is a lack of support.

And what kills love is fear.

So morality, to me, is living a life free of addiction, without judging others, refusing to become cynical, lending a hand to those who are hopeful, and casting out my fear.

Perhaps that will last longer than the latest critical attack against some hapless minority.

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Alter

dictionary with letter A

J. R. Practix

J. R. Practix

Alter: (v) to change or cause to change in character or composition, esp. in a small but significant way.
There is only one thing that makes a good human being: a desire to change without being forced to do so, welcoming the spirit of repentance.

The only question we all need to ask ourselves is, do we want to alter? Is there a passion within us to improve our status in order to gain the benefits which will certainly follow?

What do I want to alter?

  1. I’d like to not be so fat.
  2. I would like to get rid of all of my brattiness instead of settling for the amount that has already been chased away.
  3. I would like to stay on the cutting edge of transition which is moving towards making better human beings.
  4. I would like to get rid of all the remnants of fear that cling to the walls of my will and desire.
  5. I want to welcome the chance to be challenged, disproven and to be the first one to move forward instead of dragging my feet.
  6. Be a better husband and father. (Maybe better stated, I would like to more effectively understand the jobs.)
  7. And finally, continue this list for the rest of my life instead of being satisfied with my status quo.

Too many people who linger at the altar of prayer spend too little time letting their prayers alter them.

God, help me to be different.


Allay

Allay: (v) to diminish or put to rest.dictionary with letter A

I put some thought to it.

Actually, I’ve only heard this word used in relationship to fear.

I supposed you could “allay someone’s burden.” Or possibly “allay activity,” but I’ve never heard the word used in that function.

But it is beautifully and spiritually applied when it allows us to confront and overcome the tragic trepidation that keeps us from achieving our fullness.

Allay my fears.

Matter of fact, I don’t know how far from the truth I would be if I said that fear is at the root of all the iniquity that profoundly cripples our efforts.

So having things that allay our fears may be the definition of a gift from God. How can we allay our fears?

1. By allowing ourselves to believe that the world is not really out to get us. The world is too busy with itself to have much concern over our affairs.

2. By accepting the fact that worry is not only useless, but it is a time drainer. It extorts from us the energy and talent we might have used to address our conflict.

3. And finally, that mysteriously but faithfully, life offers dilemma, which normally seems to have a briefer life expectancy than we prepare for.

Flatly, problems are lazier than we think they are. They depart more quickly than they threaten, stalking off to trouble someone else.

I was grateful for this word today. It lets me know what my job is as a human being–to allay fears … starting with my own.


Akimbo

Words from Dic(tionary)

dictionary with letter A

Akimbo: (adv) with limbs flung out widely or haphazardly. e.g.: she fell on the ice, arms and legs akimbo

It happens from time to time.

I think it’s because some people come into a motel room and use the shower for oil treatments, hair coloring or perhaps they have particularly slippery shampoos or conditioners. I’m not sure.

But you will occasionally come across a porcelain surface in a shower stall that is so slippery that you will suddenly find yourself sliding in every direction as you grope for the wall, only to discover that these tiles are equally as slippery–lending itself to the possibility of an uncontrolled sprawl.

The danger here is simple. If you try to correct your tumble too quickly, you actually increase the possibility of ending up akimbo, with parts of your legs and arms broken in the process. After all, usually people don’t really get hurt during a fall. Most of the time we suffer the damage by attempting to correct the spill–inaccurately.

This happened to me recently in one of those shower situations, as I began to slide in four different directions, incapable of handling more than two. My blood pressure shot up, fear gripped my soul and I had the instinct to try to rectify my situation quickly.

But I didn’t.

Instead, I allowed myself to slide to a position where I ceased to fall uncontrollably. I froze for a moment, regaining my wits, and then found a way to simply lean back and land with a safe bounce on my ass.

It was beautiful. It was wonderful. It was controlled. It was creative. It kept me from asking parts of my body that were not suited towards weird angles to restructure their joints and ligaments.

Because even though I may never use the word “akimbo” ever again, I do understand that arms and legs were never meant to be asses.

The ass learned a long time ago that it has a calling in a crisis–to handle all the crap.

Agency

Words from Dic(tionary)

dictionary with letter A

Agency: (n) a business or organization established to provide transactions between two or more parties

Every time I hear the word I break out into a small surface sweat.

Maybe someone just tells me I will have to go to an agency to fill out an application or form to gain approval to acquire something I feel I should already have.

Let’s look at the source of my fear. What is the origin of an agency?

1. It was formed because someone was afraid to say yes or no.

There’s a problem right there. We all know the power in life is being able to come up with a positive or negative answer, and let the chips fall where they may. When you decide you don’t want that responsibility, and you spread it over a breadth of people so as to remove guilt from yourself, you create the kind of nasty red tape that makes people suicidal instead of overjoyed.

2. Someone likes to “play office.”

He or she is the kind of person who stacks pencils, puts the stapler in the upper right-hand corner of the desk planner and has a can of air freshener nearby which also acts as a disinfectant for the phone receiver when there is “foreign” use. This is the same person who always volunteered to help the teacher pound the erasers to remove the chalk dust and the kid who wanted to be the hall monitor, to tell on everyone for their bad deeds on the way to the cafeteria.

We didn’t like ’em then; we don’t like ’em now.

3. Lacking power, we imitate power.

Because we don’t think our decisions have much weight, we like to have an acronym behind our points to make them more pointed. It also gives us somebody to blame if there are objections.

4. And finally, it gives us a way to be mean and disappoint others while hiding behind a desk or a series of rules.

After all, we’re not allowed to punch somebody in the nose without suffering the consequences. But sending a form letter of rejection or explaining in boring detail why something cannot work out is the method that an agency promotes, turning its employees into street thugs.

Now, you may think that I’m too critical, but that’s probably because you work for an agency and would like to keep your paycheck.

So the next time someone tells me I have to go to an agency to seek approval or acquire information, I will stop to realize that the BEST I can hope for is a diluted possibility.

Because the only thing an agency can ever muster … is to water down the liquor of life.