In a recent small gathering, when a friend asked those of us who were present,

“What is it that you want to change next year?”

Pat came my answer, “To overcome some of my fears”

Pat because that has been on my mind for a few months now.

I embarked on a journey to work on one of my fears,

at the persuation of a couple of people, who were keen to help me out.

Fears appear insurmountable being as high as this hill,

one can’t but face it headlong and at the same time, not want to look at it,

let alone work on it.

Working on the fear seems to be the goal,

but oh!! it ain’t as easy as it sounds.

Every step of working on it, is like walking on tenterhooks,

some anxiety, some tension and some excitement.

That is perhaps why ‘conquering’ isnt the goal,

because that seems so far away.

Deep down though, there is always a thought that things will work out well,

whatever is considered well, at that point in time.

Working on fears isn’t a lone journey,

as there is always someone out there, ready to help.

Just that we need to spot that someone or accept the hand that they are lending.

There are times when what looks unsurmountable, suddenly looks possible,

when the feeling of someone watching over, is felt.

That feeling is a belief but one that is so deep that the unsurmountable fear,

becomes a work in progress, to progress beyond.

Every step in the journey to work on the fear lends many a learning.

The path is certainly rocky and wobbly and a calculated risk,

it is always one step at a time but looking ahead a few steps,

to gauge the road ahead.

While walking on the road ahead, it is also reality to look back,

at road crossed thus far,

at the big obstacles and the narrow paths that seem to be a thing of the past.

To look ahead and to look back and yet be in the moment.

That’s when a view like this emerges that is so beautiful to see,

It isn’t a view of the end of the tunnel,

but a view to stand and look and cherish.

A view that helps to gather a breath..

A view that gives so much charge that there are no thoughts of fear, at that moment..

A view that helps in absorbing the moments that presents itself as a ‘present’,

as though saying, ‘Celebrate this moment’.

Here’s yet another lovely sight to just stand and admire,

it is anybody’s guess if the small rocks are holding the big ones or vice versa.

Isn’t that how life is?

What is small and what is big is a matter of perspective,

who holds whom together is also a perspective.

Do the fears have a hold on a person or does the person hold on to the fears?

More the latter than the former,

and we are given the mental faculty to be aware of them and work on them.

Fears are like the roots of this Banyan tree,

they drop from each of us and can root us firmly, imprisoning us.

or they can be looked at as a part of us,

and we learn to swing with them and wing it.

It is amazing how fears can dictate our lives, consciously or unconsciously,

or rather how we allow fears to dictate our lives, the known fears or the unknown ones.

We can attempt to work on the known fears but what about the unknown ones?

How do we know the unknown?

If we don’t know, how then do we know what its impact is?

How do we work on what is unknown?

Won’t we be a different person if we know some answers to some of these questions?

Time to reflect, know and understand, to work on the fears,

to scale peaks within ourselves!!!