11 More on THE INVITATIONCAN YOU CHOOSE TO LOOK FOOLISH?
By Angela
It doesn't interest me how old you are. I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love, for your dream, for the adventure of being alive.
Would I risk looking like a fool for love, for my dream, for the adventure of being alive? Yes. For me, the question is would I risk feeling like a fool. You know, I used to think I was afraid of telling some of the people I love how
I feel about them or about issues involving them because of my pride. But on my journey of self-improvement, I have come to realize that actually, it is not my pride I have to work on. It is my fear of rejection. Pride and fear of rejection are not the same thing, though we do sometimes confuse them. And while it is said love overcomes fear, that is more theory than reality. Love, if we let it, can help us get past some types of fear. Love of our selves, that is. But not all types of fear and it is not an easy process.
In the end, it is our love of our selves combined with our thought-process that helps us get past fear. After all, it was our thought-process that put us where we are in the first place. And, I don't mean a random type of thought-process. I mean a conscientious thought-process. After all, we can control our thoughts and emotions. We just don't realize it or acknowledge it...
So, I have risked looking like a fool for the adventure of being alive (I have danced in the rain along the streets of Manhattan). I have also risked looking like a fool for love I was confident was returned (I have shouted to the world the depth of my feelings). But, I do not think I have often risked feeling like a fool for love (love I was not confident was mutual) or for my dreams involving my relationships with my friends and family. As I say, my fear of rejection has often been too great. But, it has happened. There have been occasions when I have willingly put myself out there for someone I cared for. It took time, anticipation and willingness to be rejected, but I did it. The first time with not so great results and the second with much better results.
I cannot say that those two times have made it easy for me to willingly step out on a limb and take the chance of feeling like a fool again. But I can say that my choice to do so was worth the end result. So, I will continue to work on looking and feeling like a fool for my dreams and as such, will continue to make inroads in my life and my relationships. After all, what is the worse that can happen, nothing gets changed. And what is the best, all is improved to even better than I imagined.
This week, examine your life. Ask yourself if you are willing to risk looking like a fool for the things that are important to you, the people that are important to you. Then, check and determine if there is someone you need to face about an issue that has been hanging over your life. An issue that you have difficulty facing. Then get it together and face that person. Take a chance. You might get even better results than you expected. And if you don't, at least you have the knowledge that you faced your mountain and survived. I will. I hope you do. And until the next time and the next part of The Invitation. take care of you.
By Angela
It doesn't interest me how old you are. I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love, for your dream, for the adventure of being alive.
Would I risk looking like a fool for love, for my dream, for the adventure of being alive? Yes. For me, the question is would I risk feeling like a fool. You know, I used to think I was afraid of telling some of the people I love how
I feel about them or about issues involving them because of my pride. But on my journey of self-improvement, I have come to realize that actually, it is not my pride I have to work on. It is my fear of rejection. Pride and fear of rejection are not the same thing, though we do sometimes confuse them. And while it is said love overcomes fear, that is more theory than reality. Love, if we let it, can help us get past some types of fear. Love of our selves, that is. But not all types of fear and it is not an easy process.In the end, it is our love of our selves combined with our thought-process that helps us get past fear. After all, it was our thought-process that put us where we are in the first place. And, I don't mean a random type of thought-process. I mean a conscientious thought-process. After all, we can control our thoughts and emotions. We just don't realize it or acknowledge it...
So, I have risked looking like a fool for the adventure of being alive (I have danced in the rain along the streets of Manhattan). I have also risked looking like a fool for love I was confident was returned (I have shouted to the world the depth of my feelings). But, I do not think I have often risked feeling like a fool for love (love I was not confident was mutual) or for my dreams involving my relationships with my friends and family. As I say, my fear of rejection has often been too great. But, it has happened. There have been occasions when I have willingly put myself out there for someone I cared for. It took time, anticipation and willingness to be rejected, but I did it. The first time with not so great results and the second with much better results.
I cannot say that those two times have made it easy for me to willingly step out on a limb and take the chance of feeling like a fool again. But I can say that my choice to do so was worth the end result. So, I will continue to work on looking and feeling like a fool for my dreams and as such, will continue to make inroads in my life and my relationships. After all, what is the worse that can happen, nothing gets changed. And what is the best, all is improved to even better than I imagined.
This week, examine your life. Ask yourself if you are willing to risk looking like a fool for the things that are important to you, the people that are important to you. Then, check and determine if there is someone you need to face about an issue that has been hanging over your life. An issue that you have difficulty facing. Then get it together and face that person. Take a chance. You might get even better results than you expected. And if you don't, at least you have the knowledge that you faced your mountain and survived. I will. I hope you do. And until the next time and the next part of The Invitation. take care of you.
The person who risks nothing, does nothing, has nothing, is nothing, and becomes nothing. He may avoid suffering and sorrow, but he simply cannot learn and feel and change and grow and love and live.
Leo F. Buscaglia (American guru, tireless advocate of the power of love, 1924-1998)
2 comments:
In my younger days, I risked looking like a fool. Recently, I have risked feeling like a fool. Believe it or not, it was actually an easy choice to make.
I love a man. We are no longer together and I wish I could tell you why but, after what I thought was a small argument, he shut me out and hasn't talked to me since. So after many, and I do mean many, many, many, many, tears and day after day of wondering if this very real physical & emotional pain was ever going to stop, I realized that putting my feelings out there for someone was worth it. Believe me, when I was in the midst of it, I didn't "feel alive". I felt awful and sad and depressed. However, I have become a much wiser, stronger woman for it and am developing a new relationship with God & myself. I realized how deep my capacity to love is & I approach all of my relationships with a new respect and appreciation. Loving yourself is important, but true love can only be expressed in relationship to and with other people. I am so grateful for those in my life that love & accept me just as I am and I can return the love to them in kind. I look forward to sharing my love with a partner who can appreciate it and me and lovingly accept all that I have to offer.
A whole lot of things are based in fear, including pride, and they only move you further away from love. Having just that understanding allowed me to risk feeling foolish. Moving myself closer to the goal of love, allowed humility to replace pride and love to replace fear and caused me to express my feelings for this man. At the end of the day, he was "just not that into me" or i was "Rita Rebound" or perhaps he was acting out of fear himself - I will never know, but looking back on the experience I am grateful for it because of what it taught me.
Therefore, I say, that the wise person should choose to look and feel foolish because love, for family, friends, children or your partner - while it is one of the most difficult journey's you can make and there are NO guarantees - it is ALWAYS worth the fight and the risk.
GIRL. YOU AINT SAID NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH. KEEP HANGING IN THERE. LOVE WILL COME IF FOR NO OTHER REASON THAN YOU BELIEVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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