source: pixabay.com

I've missed a few of the @eco-train's questions-of-the-week. I've read them all, wanted to participate but somehow couldn't get my mind into it or just didn't have the time. With the last one, I was ready to go and completely missed the deadline. Luckily for me, @eco-alex is quite good with coming up with new questions, so I didn't have to wait long for this one. When I read the question I thought: "HAH, I GOT this!" And not long after, I was breaking my brain to figure out what to write. I read @holisticmom's post earlier today and thought: "Well, I guess mine would be along the same lines..." But I just couldn't figure out how to write it without almost copying her excellent work. So I had to dig deeper....
It didn't take me very long. You see, when something is already present, it's here and there's no need to search any further.
What brought me to this point that I remembered this?
Well....

I read a book

The book, to be precise, is a book I've meant to read for a long time. I had heard about it from others many times and always said I needed to pick it up somewhere. I never did. So years went by and I still hadn't read it. Until a few months ago, I found it in pristine condition at a charity shop for 1 Euro.
I can tell ya, it is probably one of the best Euros I've spent for a book in years.
The book I am talking about is 'The Alchemist' by Paulo Coelho.

source: http://brilliantdisguises.blogspot.com/2017/05/the-alchemy-of-alchemist-treasure.html

It's short. Something that is great when you have a full agenda all the time. I hardly ever find the time to read lately, so when I do, I like it short so I don't have to put it down too often. I read this one a few hours. And then I read it again.
It's brilliant. Predictable in a way and not surpassing my all time favourite Catcher in the Rye. But still brilliant.
The point I am trying to make with this?
It made me realize what small change I've made in my life that would definitely be a life changer to the world if everyone did it. I think I needed to read this book when I did. It was exactly the right thing to read in the right time because of the events that were (and are) going on in my and my family's life at that time.

So what is that change?

Overcoming fear

For months now, I had been living life (if you can call it that) with fear gripping every molecule in my body.
My heart was racing far too long and often, sometimes I felt like it was going to pop out of my body any time now.
I felt like I was in a constant 'Fight or Flight' mode and it felt terrible. Adrenaline rushing through your veins when you need it is perfectly fine. But having it control your every move is quite a different thing.
The people who've been following my stories know why this was. For those who don't: feel free to read them, if you like. I won't get into it any further here, because it's not what this is about. The only reason why I mention it is because I want to explain how fear controlled my very being for such a long time. Too long. And enough is enough.
Slowly but surely my mindset changed. I filed a complaint against the person that was doing this to me and my family and it made me feel better, but the fear remained.
Then last week, I had an opportunity (a meeting) to do one out of two things: I could either make my nightmares become reality by completely losing myself in that fear or I could look fear in the face, dismiss it and get out of the situation as a better person. I chose the last option.

Now don't get me wrong. The night before the meeting, I was more scared than ever before.
I couldn't sleep.
When I was asked the next day about how I felt, I told the man the truth:
I hadn't eaten or slept, felt sick and in the morning I felt like I had to throw up.
I still felt that way.
But as the meeting started, I kept reminding myself to let go of that fear and as a result I remained calm during the whole thing, managed to get the right words out of my mouth at exactly the right moments and even made people laugh about one of my remarks! I know, it sounds weird because it was a very serious meeting, one that would decide the fate of me as a mother and that of my children, but somehow that laughter was probably the change of energy this meeting needed. I didn't crack jokes, didn't mean to make a funny remark, but it happened and without effort.

People aren't our enemies, fear is!

The world has been gripped by fear for centuries. First it was the fear of the unknown, installed by people in power. Nowadays with all the technology we have, it's more visual than ever before. We can see what we should be afraid of. The 'powers that be' know how this works as they've been doing it for centuries and have been passing it on to generations after them. Us 'regular' folks...not so much.
And that is their strength. I could write a book about how fear controls the world, but I won't do that today (lucky you).
Instead, I will give a few examples on how it's done.

1. The news

When I was growing up, we didn't see much news. I grew up partly in Germany and partly in Holland and all we would see were a few minutes in the evening. Mainly covering local news. A small forest fire in the area that had been resolved before it could do more damage. A cat that had been rescued from a local tree by a man who was now a local hero.
A wallet that had been lost and was recovered with all the money still present.
Every now and then we would hear about bigger things of course. Like drought and hunger in other parts of the world.
War in others. But it didn't take up the whole evening and as far as I remember: our news was really only a few minutes each day.

Have you noticed how 'the news' has almost completely taken over?

source: pixabay.com

In another QOTW not long ago, the @eco-train passengers wrote about how the news can affect us. How it could contribute to depression in people. And it's true.
Think about it. All we see nowadays is bad news.
We see 'terror attacks' (if you believe that's what they are) everywhere and on a regular basis.
We see wars and people dying and killing nearly every day. Innocent people. Children, women and men. People who didn't deserve to die (does one ever really deserve that?).
We see wild fires with catastrophic results. Hurricanes. Tornadoes.
All these things are enough to make you feel depressed, but it does something more. Something more instant:

It strikes us with fear.

2. Religion and the bible

You can believe in whatever god or entity you want to believe in. Or not.
Any religion or none. I respect anyone.
So there's that.
However, I believe that for any faith, no one really needs a religion or a bible or any other 'holy' book.
The Catholic church is probably the best example of how religion and the bible controlled and are still controlling the masses by causing fear to take over. I grew up in Germany from the age of 3 till 12. Our part of the country was Catholic mainly, but even though the church was clearly present, it was very 'mild' compared to what some others had to endure. In my class there were three protestant children, but we never viewed them any different nor did anyone make a point about it. The only way I knew they were not Catholic was because they didn't do communion when everyone else did. Later, when we moved back to Holland, our part of the country was also Catholic, and here it was even less present. However, I can't say the same for people of my age here in Ireland for instance.
The people here suffered mass brain washing during those times and it is still very much present in today's society here.
Fear of hell and damnation and the pain and punishments they suffered here by the hands of nuns and priests, people of God are still engraved into their very souls. And not only that: it's been passed on to younger generations. I heard my friend tell me not long ago how her neighbour's son was upset because he was doing his communion soon and he had cursed. He was upset about the fact that he now had to confess this to the priest.
It's sickening if you ask me, how much control this church still has by installing fear into children's minds.

source: https://daverobinson.id.au/religiousgunk.html

3. The law

Governments, police and other government authorities all have one thing in common: They use fear tactics to 'keep the peace' or 'uphold the law'.
Laws that were made by men (and women) that were supposedly put in that position by 'the people'. If you believe that fairy tale.
Men and women who decide these laws are no better than a common criminal if you ask me.
Because since when did we become another person's property? Because that's what it really is, isn't it?

I was watching Orange is the new Black the other day. For those who don't know it: it's loosely based on a true story of a woman who ended up in prison for something she had done years ago and that came biting her in the butt now.
This episode especially made me think: who are these people (prison guards) and when did they become more of a human than those women in that prison? Are they really any different than the murderers and thieves they 'guard'? Or are they worse?
Who ever came up with the idea to punish people by locking them in a cage with hundreds of others and then, when they do something wrong, lock them in an even smaller cage on their own? Who decides these things and how is this ever in anyone's best interest? Do these people ever get out as a better person? I don't think so.

The other day I got stopped by the police. The only thing I had done wrong was that I
hadn't passed the test for my car yet. I have the appointment for that next week and I explained this to the officer. And it was fine, all I need to do is show them this within 10 days. No harm done. But yet, my heart was racing like crazy as if I was some kind of felon running from the law. And that's how they make you feel. They know this and they use it anywhere they want.

And there are many other government agencies that do this to people. Police, governments, tax offices, CPS, insurance companies and even banks. All of them are in fact the same: if you don't 'comply' to their rules, you're pretty much treated like a criminal.

How did I do it during my meeting? Pure magic!

As I said before, I was scared - very scared - before I went into that room. Once I sat down and people started talking, I started 'clearing'. The right word is Ho'oponopono. This is an ancient Hawaiian healing technique. I have been practicing
this on and off for about 10 years now. I have a good friend in Canada who will practice with me and I with him, whenever we have any issues we need to get through. I don't have enough time to explain how this is done, but I might write about it at some stage.
So that day, I asked two other friends to do this for me as well as the friend in Canada. Of course, there is no way of proving that this particular thing worked, but in my opinion it did. Because in my head, I kept repeating the same words, like a mantra and it calmed my mind. I couldn't think or let bad thoughts enter my mind. Because of it, I knew exactly what to say and when to say it. Not because I thought about it, but instinctively. How it works? I couldn't tell you. All I know is that it does. I don't question it. You could call it faith, or you could call it magic. It's magic to me.

Conclusion

There are many quotes in the book 'The Alchemist' that were hitting truth. One in particular stood out to me:
"Courage is a quality most essential to understanding the Language of the World."
I LOVE this. And it is true. The people in power know this and that is the reason why they try to keep everyone living in fear.
I never believed it was the guards with guns who kept the prisoners in Auschwitz where they were. Fear was.
I have thought about this often throughout my life. I always thought, if it were me in their situation, with nothing to lose, I would take my chances and probably die. However, if thousands of people would have thought the same, their chances would have been a lot greater against 'only' a few hundred armed guards.

I don't think people should have to leave in fear on a daily basis. Fear of terrorist attacks, fear for breaking the law and getting into trouble, fear of everything really. It's just not right.

I am afraid of heights. I used to be afraid standing on a newspaper, let alone anything higher.
Then one day some time ago, while I was traveling, friends talked me into doing a bungee jump. Not just any jump, but off a bridge into a river. I had always been fascinated by these people who did this and so I let the curiosity get the best of me. I was almost crying just climbing to the other side of that bridge before the jump. The man who was helping me didn't help either as he told me to get myself together and enjoy it. And then he pushed me!
They were the scariest few seconds EVER. My friends later told me that I was screaming the whole way and I didn't even remember! The adrenaline rush was something else. But I did it! And not only that: I did it again about 10 minutes later.
The fear I felt just before that was nothing compared to the feeling that I had after I did that. I was buzzing with excitement for weeks after that. I had overstepped my personal boundaries and had done something I wouldn't have dreamed of doing not long before that moment. And something clicked in my mind: fear of something new was as irrational as fearing to get hit by a bus every time you walk across a road.

Now, I am not saying that everyone should just start jumping off bridges or out of a plane. However, if people would realize that most of the time, if not every time, fear is our greatest enemy. When we then overcome that fear, we would see a completely different world.

If we all gather more courage, we could truly understand the language of the world.