The Elephant in the Room - Attachment, Anxiety and Suffering

It comes in many different forms - the pursuit of 'success', recognition, acceptance, internal and external expectations, fears and desires.

What if all those pursuits amount to the same fundamental effort, trying desperately to AVOID what we most fear?

There is more anxiety and noise in the world than ever before. What if the anxiety we feel is deep seated fear, masked by coping mechanisms, and endless distractions, but always lurking in the moments of silence, in the shadows?

What if every effort to avoid or deny the fear is actually what CAUSES the suffering we are trying to avoid and prevent?

What if vulnerability is the gatekeeper and the compass showing us where we need to go?

What if the path to inner peace and progress is acknowledging our fears, ACCEPTING the risk they represent and allowing ourselves to take action anyway, even if it's tiny steps?

What would happen if we took small, even tiny steps into that dark cave, to test that fear, prepared to accept the outcomes we believe are hiding in there?

Can you find your vulnerability and see what it points to?

Can you acknowledge what you fear most, and find a way to take a tiny step toward it, rather than lots of steps around or away from it?

These fears are very real, very fundamental and very human, they are a consequence of our big brains. They try to protect us from injury (past or perceived), while inadvertently preventing us from what we most need.

Behind those fears, lies the answers we are seeking, the thing we need most and which brings us the peace, safety and acceptance we most require.

Only through the very vulnerable process of acknowledging, accepting the risk they represent and acting through those fears can we find what we are searching for.