Tag Archives: fear

With calm mind embrace, you fool, a rest that knows no care

Again, suppose nature should suddenly lift up her voice, and herself rebuke some one of us in these words: “Why is death so great a thing to you, mortal, that you give way excessively to sickly lamentation? Why groan and weep at death? For if the life that is past and gone has been pleasant to you, and all its blessings have not drained away and not been enjoyed—as if poured in a vessel full of holes—why don’t you retire like a guest sated with the banquet of life, and with calm mind embrace, you fool, a rest that knows no care? But if all you have reaped has been wasted and lost, and life is a stumbling-block, why seek to add more—all to be lost again foolishly and passed away without enjoyment? Why not rather make an end of life and trouble? For there is nothing more which I can devise or discover to please you: all things are ever as they were.”

Titus Lucretius Carus (c 99-55 BCE)

Looking for a compromise

When we disagree with someone we have several choices to make. Do I want to make them change their mind? Do I need to have my own way? Am I willing to listen to the other point of view?

If we are able to free ourselves from the fear of anger, we can look for solutions to the conflict. Often the fear takes control and there is no way to resolve the issue. Freedom from fear is freedom to choose.