I’m beset by fear this week.
For a thousand reasons and none.
My friend Ann Cheng sent me this poem this morning.
It helped.
Robert, I hope it is kosher to share.
One Source of Bad Information
There’s a boy in you about three
Years old who hasn’t learned a thing for thirty
Thousand years. Sometimes it’s a girl.
This child had to make up its mind
How to save you from death. He said things like:
“Stay home. Avoid elevators. Eat only elk.”
You live with this child, but you don’t know it.
You’re in the office, yes, but live with this boy
At night. He’s uninformed, but he does want
To save your life. And he has. Because of this boy
You survived a lot. He’s got six big ideas.
Five don’t work. Right now he’s repeating them to you.
by Robert Bly
13 responses so far ↓
1 Debra Marrs Mar 11, 2010
Bless Robert Bly for his clever way of revealing the shape of our fear. Bless you, Jen, for attracting this oh, so subtle answer response to (hopefully) quiet those fears. I know for me, it’s a powerful takeaway. Thank you!
Sending hugs to squish those fears right out of you. NOW! I believe in YOU 100,000 %.
2 Jenn Givler Mar 11, 2010
Now, I know you shared this because it was relevant for you, but… how did you know that I too needed to hear EXACTLY this today?!?
3 Jennifer Mar 11, 2010
Thanks lovely women for being with me and Mr. Bly in our fear.
4 liz elayne Mar 11, 2010
oh goodness how i love this. yes. poetry has a way of just saying it…saving us. yes.
thank you for sharing this.
i so need to add bly to my poetry collection.
5 Hiro Boga Mar 11, 2010
Oh, sweetie, big hugs for your scared self. And hugs for Robert Bly and his heart’s understanding of these children within us.
Sending you reminders of the love, power and peace that are also within you…
Love, Hiro
6 Lisa Mar 11, 2010
I’ve been fearful this week too…. you have no idea how wonderful the timing is for me to share in this poem. In fact, I think I’ll print it out and post it next to my computer for a few days… Much gratitude and many many hugs coming your way!
Love,
Lisa
7 Suzanne McDermott Mar 11, 2010
That hits the spot. Thanks for sharing it!
8 Aivlis Mar 12, 2010
I too entered the zone of fearfulness this week – loading too much on my back simply and asking too much of myself…it is good now to be retreating into your circle, sharing this, letting you and me know, exhaling, pausing…going on differently from here. THANKS!
(I too love the way poetry soothes…)
9 Liz Mar 12, 2010
“He’s got six big ideas. Five don’t work”
How true.
Thanks for this!
10 carolyn Mar 12, 2010
Wonderful Jen.
In that fear I feel a kernel of courage. It’s a kernel I need to digest with bravery and compassion.
With a big bear hug of gratitude,
thank you thank you thank you
11 Amy Mar 12, 2010
This is so beautiful and timely for me. Thanks for sharing!
12 Viveca from FatigueBeGone Mar 12, 2010
Fear.
Yikes.
Is it over yet?
That’s my poem. And, I can answer my question.
No. It’s not over yet.
Tomorrow is the day I’ve dreading for months. It is the day when all my rampant accounting disorganization from the past years leaps UP and down and UP and down while I try to slay another tax return from hell.
Taxes.
Yikes.
Oops.
Oh no.
Oh no, not again.
There’s an alternative.
It’s worse.
The end.
13 Victoria Mar 25, 2010
I had a stepfather that made me sleep in an unheated room for 7 winters when I was a child. He did that because he thought once when he was dating my mother that I had turned the heat off at night so he would have to sleep in a cold guest bedroom.
Now I am a top computer professional and I make money. Money is the power to set my the thermostat in my house so I am comfortable.
Money is choice and power to decide. I pay an extra 10 or 20 dollars a month to lay down in a bedroom that is comforttable.
But more than comfortable, my money buys me freedom from fear.