Dance with the Bandage Torn Off

I was reading a post the other day from another spiritual teacher and he said that the way to deal with fear was to ignore it.  Don't put your attention on it and you will overcome it.  While I agree that meditating on fear is a distraction from being here and living life fully - I have to add that in my experience it's not about ignoring fear when it arises.  For me, ignoring it and putting my attention on "the guru", for example, led to a great deal of bypassing what needed to be felt, understood and realized. In my experience, fear is just a shield from feeling the absolute rawness and vulnerability of what it is to be human.  It's not something to overcome or conquer, it's something to be understood and seen for what it really is.  It is a great teacher that is here to lead you to the Truth, if you are willing.  To get in touch with this existential angst that is at the core of every human being is the only way to awaken into the heart of your own Being

Yesterday, when I was at the post office mailing out some late Christmas presents, I got talking with the postal worker who was helping me mail out my gifts.  I told her how much I love this post office - how the people who work here are always so friendly and you rarely find this at other post offices. It's just plain refreshing. She said that it's the energy of the people that live here. She told me that she works at another post office near by and it's nothing like this one. Folks are always in a hurry and nobody smiles at one another. She hates going to that post office and is always left feeling depleted at the end of the day.  She then went on to tell me a story that I was very moved by. She said that one night during the Christmas chaos with lines out the doors in Takoma Park - she was starting to feel exhausted and overwhelmed by the crowds. She found herself just going through the motions of the job, not really feeling the customers she was assisting. Then suddenl