Dark vs Fear

I have thought about this off & on for years but until recently haven't wrapped my brain around the intent of my thoughts on the subject. Is everyone afraid of the dark, Do you say you aren't afraid of the dark but deep down inside when you are in the dark woods with no lights & nobody for miles or the power is out in your home & you have no light, when you hear noises, even though they are what I call "dark noises" that we all hear when it is dark, quiet & still, do you have a little fear? Do you say you aren't afraid to cover up insecurities but really you are as afraid as anyone?
I can't answer this question for anyone else because it is a personal demon, experience or feeling which is between you & the dark. I had a very frightening experience as a young child which made me deathly afraid of the dark. I was playing in my room with my younger sister & brothers. The lights were on, the noise was loud & it was after dark. I heard a tapping noise on the window although the window blinds were down, I was curious what this continued noise was? I had no fear at all & was just quizzical as I pulled the blind back & put my face up to the window with the blind now laying on the back of my head. It took a couple seconds for my eyes to adjust which may never happen with my eyes now as I need reading glasses (vbs). I then realized there were 2 monster faces pressed up against the window & I fell backward screaming with an unimaginable fear for what I had witnessed. My mom burst into the room & looked outside but nothing was there. She most likely felt I was imagining this but because of my belief in what I had seen, she held me & calmed me as only a Mother can do.
We found out days later that it was 2 teenage boys in the neighborhood that had done this & were bragging about how scared they made me. My Mom found the two boys & grabbed them by the ears & banged their heads together something I am sure would land her in jail today. The two boys of which one still lives here, apologized to me but the damage was already done.
I wouldn't go anywhere near a dark room or be outside alone after dark. I had nightmares of dark & monsters in the dark, it was horrible.
I was about 13 when I decided I wanted to overcome this & many other fears, so I began a quest to gain confidence. I went camping by myself with my dog & we spent an intensely frightening night alone in the woods while I kept the fire blazing until I couldn't keep my eyes open a second longer. I woke up at daylight & realized that I could do this & that I needed to overcome all my fears. I began planning to do things every birthday which included overcoming a fear. Sky diving, bungee jumping, survival camping in dry & snow conditions were among many.
I bring up the past to set the mood for the present & to give perspective on my thoughts regarding dark & fear.
Last weekend I was called out to work & although I would say that I am not afraid or intimidated by much, I had to walk through dark woods at 3:00 in the morning with no lights & must admit that although I wasn't having anxiety attacks it was a little frightening. Not enough to stop me but enough to give me pause & have the experience cause me to wonder, what if?
I don't know if you have similar thoughts on dark & fear but am pretty sure that when we strip away all the lights, friends, family, pets, egos or mental safeguards, that we, as we sit alone in deep thought, have some degree of fear of the dark. It would only be natural because we as humans are usually afraid of what we don't understand, have control over or what we can't see, like what is in the dark.

Children are Fragile

Children are fragile as a light bulb, be careful with them & they will brighten your life.
If you are careless with them, they will break & you will live in a world of darkness.

Beauty

As I search for beauty all over the earth, I find it in smiles & a baby at birth.
Beauty is all around us, tho sometimes hard to find,
not because it's hiding, because it's a state of mind!

When I happen across beauty on my journey through life, it pierces my soul with happiness, as a sculpture being carved with the masters knife.

What is it about beauty that invokes endless descriptions of origin or meaning? Could it be as we have heard, that "beauty is in the eye of the beholder"?

Beauty has been around forever & is far from being new, Though beauty in the dictionary looks exactly like you.

All of us are beautiful regardless of race or ethnicity, we are beautiful because we amidst flaws & mistakes have the ability to help others & to make a difference in life & if we can make somebody's life better, it will be a beautiful world.

Crisis

It doesn't happen every day unless I listen to the news but it happens way more than I am comfortable with & what I am referring to is crisis. There are so many people I am surrounded by that are experiencing crisis in their lives & I have been one of them at times in my life so I understand what I am speaking of. It is overwhelmingly difficult to watch somebody go through a crisis & be unable to do anything except help with day to day responsibilities or give support where possible.
When we go through crisis in our a life, it is a lonely place & one in which sucks you deeper into despair regardless of what the outcome is, we are forever changed.
When I say crisis, I am not referring to not making the team, not being able to buy a house or having your car break down. I am talking about losing a loved one, having a family member terminally ill, losing your spouse, losing your job & house with no where to go & no money to pay for rent.
When you see people in crisis mode it is sometimes so overwheming & painful to watch that we become somewhat numbed by the magnitude of pain. We hurt when we are with those that are suffering but when we go home, regardless of how much we hurt for those in pain, we can be with our family or friends, we can watch a movie or listen to music or read a book to forget the pain being experienced by those in crisis.
The only way to understand crisis is to be in it & when you are, you only want out. Every second of every day is like tons of weight placed on your shoulders so that you can never do anything without feeling the burden of the weight & you want to collapse but can't because it still won't relieve the burden or pain. It consumes you & regardless of a positive exterior attitude, you grow more distant because the burden caused by this crisis consumes you & leaves you only a shadow of what you once were with a reality that this crisis although perhaps passing in time will leave you scarred forever.
I can't give any advice to make your pains go away as you deal with your crisis except to never give up & regardless of the pain & suffering, you can find peace & happiness again even though there may be a huge piece of your heart removed because of what you have gone through. Perhaps that is why the scar will always remain with us, it is a reminder of what we have experienced & how quickly our lives can be changed.
Enjoy each day, spend time with those you love & never be afraid to experience life to the fullest because every day can be the best or worst day of our life so don't be afraid to live.

Peace

I spend a lot of time ranting & raving about my opinions on just about everything so I decided to take a moment & let you know that regardless of difference I may have with everybody, I truly love people & watching them succeed, overcoming obstacles or simply being happy. So with this being said, I want to wish all of you, regardless of our differing opinions, Peace & happiness in your lives because I can't be 100% truly happy when those around me are not or those around me struggle so if I can help you, I will.
We are here together & nobody can get through life alone, we all need help from somebody at some time so it's time we extend our hand in friendship & put aside differences to say hello to somebody, to smile at somebody or just simply be kind.
PEACE

Philosophy--Fact---Fiction

Lets say that you could choose one quality in a friend & the qualities that determined your friend's life were Philosophical, Factual or fictitious, which quality would you want in your friend?
If you choose philosophical, your friend would have philosophies about life but may indeed be a thinker & not a doer.
If you choose Factual, your friend would make decisions based on facts & there would be no fictitious or philosophical decisions. There would be no spontaneous decisions based on instinct or feeling.
If you choose Fictitious, your friend would live their life in a fantasy world & wouldn't use any facts to support their decision. There would be no substance to anything they did.
As I thought about this & tried to think of what I would want in a friend based on these three traits & I chose philosophical because this person would think but would be willing to explore new ideas & hopefully those new ideas would include action to achieve the tasks they thought about.
There is no right answer, simply food for thought. VBS

Old Friends

I have a pair of hiking boots that have taken me hundreds of miles over the most insane parts of the Sierra Nevada Mtns & although I no longer use them for backpacking, I love these boots & every time I put them on to run an errand or do chores around the house, it is like a spiritual experience, remembering all the hardships we faced together. Quit laughing because I know you are. I am not obsessed with these boots, I just have respect for them because they carried me when I was beyond my physical limits, so the thought of what we have done together becomes memorable & floods my mind with incredible experiences.
These hiking boots are like good friends, you don't have to see them every day or every year but if they are true friends, you will reunite as if no time has lapsed between the last visit. You will remember those incredible experiences shared & the feelings you have for each other.
I have found friends recently that have been lost to me for over 30 years & it is as if time stood still because I remember vividly, those experiences & relationships as if they happened yesterday.
Somebody recently told me that if we can have but one real friend in our lifetime, that we can share everything with & help us regardless of the outcome, we will be very happy & very lucky. I thought about this & wasn't sure I agreed because family can take the place of friends. As I had the experience with my boots & reconnecting with my dear friends, I now believe friends & family are different & that we really are fortunate to have any true friends in our life, that stand beside us no matter what & are always there for us. Family relationships are sometimes cumbersome because family members feel they are entitled by blood relation to give you advice whether you want it or not & family is always there, whether you want them or not. Family is crucial to a happy life but are infinitely different than Friends who are not family members.
To those I have recently reconnected with, thank you for being great friends & for helping me to mold my life with incredible experiences we have shared together in times gone by & hopefully we can have more adventures in the future.