Reflections

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  1. Robin Ann

    Yes it has for me. I do and have had a fear of death or having a life threatening disease.
    My Mother was diagnosed with non-hodgkins lymphoma when I was 35. I started experiencing severe anxiety at some point. Now my daughter suffers from addiction and I do fear for her life but I am now practicing feeling grateful and my mind is much more calmer since doing so. This along with my faith has helped me a great deal! Thank you all for being here and to Grateful.org!

    1 year ago
  2. Don Jones

    Fear is one of those things that can wear many different clothes. I have found that gratitude brings me back to the garden of mindfulness in the present. It is the one place where fear cannot exist.

    1 year ago
  3. V
    Voyager

    No because I don’t feel like I am a grateful person

    I can see how it would though I don’t deny it can

    1 year ago
    1. Nannette

      Hello Voyager, I hope you can find some part of your life to be grateful for. Continue to visit this site and you will find much good here. I hope there is some sunshine in your life. Blessings to you.

      1 year ago
  4. Barb C

    I’m not a fearful person or prone to what my mom called “borrowing trouble”. When I started reading about Buddhist nonattachment it made so much sense, that we create and fuel our own fears and anxieties by dwelling on them and making them real in our minds. I wouldn’t say living gratefully is directly a tool for dealing with fear if it does arise–more that I know I will cope with what comes to the best of my abilities in the moment, and I’m grateful for the ways life has prepared me to be able to move on.

    As a lifelong science fiction reader, I’ll also speculate that reading Frank Herbert’s “Dune” in my early years gave me a quasi-Buddhist perspective on fear. “I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.”

    1 year ago
  5. Charlie T

    Great question. When I surrendered
    to this life, I was able to see fear as
    just another emotion. Unjustified
    fear was my excuse for resistance,
    Un-willingness, and complacency.
    There is still fear in my life, but its
    treated as an emotion that is
    looked at and considered. Fear has
    a way of creeping into your decisions,
    and when looked at logically, usually
    there is no basis for it. I used fear as
    an excuse for not doing the things
    that I should have been doing.
    On a larger level, the basic emotion
    of fear, has always been used to
    manipulate us and has been
    weaponized, to sell us products,
    start wars, and divide us.
    When you pull back the curtain,
    the all mighty great wizard turns
    out to be just a scared little old man.

    1 year ago
    1. Joseph McCann

      Well stated Charlie T.

      1 year ago
  6. O.Christina

    recently, awareness arose about my lack of integrity when it comes to situations where I feel under pressure, being asked to do something which I might not agree to or even feel the request is unethical. Recently it happened that I even signed something, which I did not want to but still did due to the felt pressure on me, allowing my “weak point” of wanting to belong and old fear of being heavily punished to play into it. I need to correct this and currently am doing so, got in contact about it with the ones concerned; in order to be able to stay with them, it needs to be reviewed and renewed. What the other party does with it is not in my hands, while in the same time I hope that things will be sorted out well so that my integrity is possible to be re-established and I hope for understanding that a request felt as unethical is no basis for working together as kindred hearts. Observing myself in this situation, I am grateful for the process of being able by now to get in contact, address my perspective and to express myself clearly as well as asking for a reasonable correction. I realize through this question that this embarrassing lack of integrity seems to start to transform. Thank you for this question, dear friends of the grateful team. 💕🙏✨

    1 year ago
    1. A
      Ana Maria

      Wow! How powerful! To call truth to power, not an easy thing to do. The fall out keeps so many of us doing things that are against our morals, the fear of not following the orders is excruciating. Well done! Blessings to you.

      1 year ago
  7. Michele

    Yes, I think living gratefully has made me a little less fearful in some ways by making me grateful for what I do have. With that being said, I also think there will always be some level of fear whether its politics, the weather, the health of my loved ones etc. One day at a time. Stop. Look. Go. Smile and keep on trucking through this life:)

    1 year ago
  8. Yram

    Has my fear lessened because of being grateful? Hummmm. I am unclear of that. I have not been a fearful person but more concerned. Since being on this site, I am much more aware of the goodness in my life and that leads to more calm and reliance on hope.

    1 year ago
  9. Nannette

    I hope so!! I hope that my crazy “worry mind” is better as I enlist gratefullness in my daily life. I do not have fear but often worry about things that never happen…and have realized over and over that worry is a waste of time. However; it seems that I am just wired that way…AND, I do not have anything critical to worry about. As these thoughts enter my mind (or monkey brain)…I am going to think of words and works of gratitude. So happy to be here with all of you and all who make this site possible.

    1 year ago
    1. Michele

      I can relate, I’m a natural ‘worry-wort’ myself too.

      1 year ago
      1. Rabbit

        Me too. Always studying a hundred different ways to approach something so I don’t make a mistake. Ha! As if trouble could be completely avoided.

        1 year ago
  10. Maeve

    I don’t know if living gratefully has made me less fearful. I am much more aware of being grateful in the past year. My life situation has taken a surprising and delightful turn in terms of living with much more ease, harmony and peace since I moved to a new living place about a year ago. I notice that I feel less alone in the world, more connected to others and that is a comfort. So if my environment and my needs are being met, yes, that makes me less fearful about the future.

    1 year ago
  11. Rabbit

    This site has helped me look at gratitude differently which has helped address fears. Before, people were always just saying “be positive” all the time and that isn’t always possible. But the philosophy I find here is an acknowledgment that life can be dark and difficult but there are still areas of light and beauty to help us find our way in the dark. I try to remember that philosophy when I think of sorrow and trouble that I know will come our way and it has helped with the fears. Thank you to everyone here and those who make the site possible.

    1 year ago
  12. Carol

    It has helped me tremendously because gratefulness promotes acceptance of what is; gratefulness helps me remember that I am enough; gratefulness calms me and promotes compassion. It brings my head into my heart. I remember Br. David saying in a talk I heard many years ago that gratefulness promotes true thanksgiving. Giving thanks is life-giving. It’s like saying, “Here I am. I am willing.” Fear still raises its head but it no longer owns me.

    1 year ago
    1. Rabbit

      I like expression head in my heart. We need heart in our head too.

      1 year ago
      1. Carol

        Rabbit, I definitely don’t want my head thinking without the compassion for myself and others that lives in my heart! Blessings to you today and always, Dear Rabbit.

        1 year ago
  13. Carla

    Transitioning to a more God centered way of life versus self-centered way of life has reduced and taken fear out of my daily activities. Gratitude becomes one of the byproducts.

    1 year ago
  14. Joseph McCann

    Living gratefully has lessened my fear and dread of the aging process. I have been known to say “Everything has its life span, from a corrugated metal culvert to the trees.” I did not equate or want to equate that to the impermanence of my own existence on the planet. Waking each day with gratitude for one more day, today, I am in a better mental state with my own impermanence.

    1 year ago
  15. Laura

    Trying to stay in the present has made me less fearful and gratefulness can be a part of what helps me stay grounded in the now.

    1 year ago
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