Do we choose fear or love?

“Love is what we were born with. Fear is what we learned here.” -Marianne Williamson

     With everything going on in the world right now we have a lot to be fearful of.  Are we safe to gather in the streets to celebrate?  Are we safe to share our opinions? Are we safe to do our jobs? There are always going to be things to worry about, but for many people the recent events have increased their level of anxiety and worry and have had them questioning what the world is coming to.  One of the biggest things that I took away from the first Conversations with God book by Neale Donald Walsch is that there are only two emotions- Love and Fear.  He discusses how all of the actions and behaviors of people in the world are stemming from one of these two emotions.  Why do people become angry, hateful or vengeful?  At the heart of it, it is because they are fearful.  They are filled with fear that they are not good enough, strong enough, powerful enough or influential enough.  They don’t want anyone to see the fear so they use their power and control to put other people down or to scare them into doing what they want them to do.  Fear is defined in Alcoholics Anonymous as False Evidence Appearing Real.  Well, right now in the world we have a lot of real evidence.  There is no denying that there are some tragic events happening.  We have a choice in how we respond to them though.  If we allow the events to put us into a place of fear we react in a way to protect ourselves.  We see building a wall as a good thing.  We believe we are safer if we are carrying a weapon.  We stockpile food and build impenetrable shelters.  We separate ourselves from ‘those’ people.  Is this what we truly want?  Most people say they want to have peace and freedom, yet these fears stop us from living in a way that looks even remotely peaceful or free.  While these events are real, the truth is that how we view these events can change the way we respond to them.  If we choose fear, the events can separate and divide us even farther, but what would love do?  From a place of love we can begin to see that the people involved in these events are simply acting out of fear.  When we become curious about what they may be fearful of, we begin to see them differently.  We become willing to listen instead of isolating and separating from them.   I often share with my clients that change only happens when things get so bad we are pushed to do something different or when we become so clear on our vision we are pulled to do something different.  These events have the opportunity to do both.  Either we will realize that what is happening is so bad, what we are currently doing isn’t working, or we will become so clear that peace is what we want we will begin to open up to love.  This is an exciting time in the world- this is our time to be the change!