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by Joe Bandel |
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 Modern Survivalism PART FOUR
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PART FOUR
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Emotional Crisis |
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Emotional crisis is painful. The worst experiences of my life have dealt with emotional pain and not physical pain. I'm sure others can relate to what I'm saying. On the flip side emotional pleasure and satisfaction is what makes life worth living. Life without emotions would not be worth living. We take risks and experience the joy, pleasure and satisfaction success brings.
We work hard and earn the rewards we receive. We are competent in life and enjoy competition. We enjoy the struggle and the reward. We have no interest in getting something we have not earned through our own physical labors. This is the viewpoint of a person that takes risks. Perhaps we risk by asking someone out for a date.
After many rejections we are accepted and dating someone we really like. Perhaps we even fall in love. Without the first risks and the first failures chances are we would never have been successful. Emotional rejections are very painful but they are also instructive if we can learn from them.
The negative aspect of this stage is powerful. We are confronted or placed in situations where our feet feel like lead weights, our heart is in our throats and we can't breathe. We feel fear to the point of being frozen. Despite this awkwardness of fear and discomfort we force ourselves to move forward, whether it be a task we fear or asking someone to marry us.
The important point is we do not allow our fear to prevent us from doing the things required. I like to think of a hungry lion stalking its prey. It is crouching in the tall grass and lying very still. Suddenly there is a deafening roar. Will the prey freeze with terror and make an easy meal or will the terror cause the prey to bolt for safety with a life saving burst of speed?
More to the point, what do we do with our terror? I once worked security at a place where an infant fell into a swimming pool and couldn't swim. The mother was froze in terror and could not do anything. Fortunately another security guard immediately jumped in the pool and rescued the infant.
Life places us in situations where we will feel terror. It might not happen often but it will happen and how we react will depend upon our past habits, training and activities. The military has proven time after time that when the brain shuts down the physical body reverts to training. We need to seriously think about what kind of training we have.
By taking risks we develop the heart and will power to achieve in life. Working with emotional crisis develops what it takes to succeed in life.
We can only achieve joy, pleasure, and satisfaction by risking and acting in spite of personal fears and limitations. This is not being passive. In the first stage we were victims, in the second stage we learned from our mistakes. In this stage we deliberately go after what we want. We do this in spite of our inexperience, lack of knowledge and fears.
We are clumsy and crude in our attempts. We may or may not succeed but we have the heart and will power that allows us to eventually succeed. We believe in ourselves enough to overcome whatever obstacles may occur in time. It is our faith in ourselves and our connection to the Master Within that allows us to go forward into new and strange situations with confidence and determination. Our desire is stronger than our fear.
Earlier parts of this chapter dealt with spiritual and mental crisis. What I was trying to show is how we begin as observers and gradually try things our for ourselves. We are observers simply because we don't have any control of the situation or experience and are stuck in it.
Think of the newborn baby that has no physical control over his or her body yet. All they can do is observe. Think of the frustration young children feel when they can't do something they want to do.
Our contact with the Master Within and our creative power started at the spiritual level and then transferred to the mental level. That is where we learned what we wanted to do. The emotional part comes when we try to act upon our desires.
Desire meets physical reality! What an exciting place to be if we can make it work.
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Emotional Crisis |
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