Fear: Essential Wisdom for Getting Through the Storm

by Thich Nhat Hanh

To be mindful means to look deeply, to touch our true nature of interbeing and recognize that nothing is ever lost.

Mindful meaning

Fear keeps us focused on the past or worried about the future. If we can acknowledge our fear, we can realize that right now we are okay. Right now, today, we are still alive, and our bodies are working marvelously. Our eyes can still see the beautiful sky. Our ears can still hear the voices of our loved ones.

All that is dear to me, and everyone I love, are of the nature to change. There is no way to escape being separated from them.

If we practice and are able to release, we can be free and happy right now, today. If we can’t let go, we will suffer not only on the day when we’re finally forced to do so, but right now today and every day in between, because fear will be constantly stalking us.

Invite your fear into consciousness, and smile through it; every time you smile through your fear, it will lose some of its strength. If you try to run away from your pain, there is no way out. Only by looking deeply into the nature of your fear can you find the way out.

You have to know the true nature of dying to understand the true nature of living. If you don’t understand death, you don’t understand life.