Over the past few months, we have begun the process of trying to make sense of who we are, what we believe and what morals, values and ideas we are trying to develop. Doing this, while sometimes extremely stressful and a royal pain in the behind, is also a key part of determining our place in the world. For those of you sitting at your computers week after week, cursing me to the fiery pits of the Hell for coming up with questions that make your brains bleed, please know my intentions are good!
Now, with that said, onto this week's brain blaster!
"You block your dream when you allow your fear to grow bigger than your faith."
First, in your own words, interpret that quote from Mary Manin Morrissey.
Now that your interpretation is finished, and again, in your own words, ones that make the most sense to you, define for me the idea of "fear." It means different things to different people; what does it mean to you?
What is your biggest fear? What keeps you awake at night?
Is whatever your fear now the same as it was when you were a sophomore, a freshmen, an eighth-grader? How has the idea of fear evolved for you? What do you notice about the evolution? From where do you think this fear comes?
How often do you stop yourself from doing something because of fear? Do you ever regret not doing what you wanted to do?
When, if ever, is fear a good thing to feel? Why?
How do you deal with it?
A lot of scary questions, I know. Do your best.
(450-500 words/60pts)
Mary Manin Morrissey was always a very religious person. Her thoughts were very interesting and religious. To me, this quote means that one who worries about fear forgets about his or her faith because they're too busy dwelling on the negative things. This person is known to look at the glass half-empty. Also, those who are afraid to succeed also blocked their faith. It is up to us to make dreams and goals since they fall into the same category. Next, to me, fear is something people shouldn't have much of. Fear is horrible and a person has to get rid of it fast because in life, the real world doesn't care if a person is fearful or not. That's why it's safe to be confident, strong, and bitch-less. What is my advice of on getting rid of fear? Don't watch scary movies. That'll help somebody. My biggest fear is God. I know that he sees everything that we do and I'm afraid to disrespect him in any way. He has showed me TOO MANY times that he is real, he is there. Whenever people make fun of him on Family Guy for example, I hate it and I feel horrible for watching it. It's like an invisible spirit that watches over us constantly. He doesn't miss a thing. I know that for a fact. That's why he's my biggest and only fear. Honestly? Homework has always kept me up at night; however, whenever I didn't do it when I was in middle school, I would go to school he next day and copy it. I didn't care, I didn't have time for that, I played 8 sports a year back then. That's a different story though. But now, I would say that not listening to music keeps me awake at night. Whenever I listen to music, I'm knocked out app. 10 minutes after the music is on. I love music. I need it because it leaves me unstressed everyday after a long day of nonsense and hard work. What I fear now is the same as what I feared back in 8th grade to now. I wasn't really familiar with God back then. Pshht! now I do know. I think that fear has disappeared from me. I know that's impossible but I haven't felt it in so long. I do believe it is possible to build confidence but a person can't make fear disappear altogether. This fear must come from scary movies because I'm not sure why else us humans would be afraid of things. Sometimes I stop myself from doing something because I know I have a huge future and I don't want any other trouble in school. That isn't fear though, that's wisdom. Just because a person knows he or she can't get into any altercations with a bum doesn't mean he or she is afraid. AT ALL. My anger gets a hold of me way too much and I started to control myself freshman year and beginning of Sophomore year. Instead of getting into trouble in school, I found a solution, which was fighting out of school! I do often regret it, however, I know in the back of my mind that I can't do it and I refuse to do it. I can't get into any trouble from here on in. Fear is a good thing to have only if you are afraid of people and you can't shake the fear cobwebs. I think this is funny. I don't have an answer to this specific question because I'm not sure why fear is good but I believe that it is a good motivator. For example, getting a bad grade in class. I believe that if you fear getting a bad grade, it will push you to study harder and get a good grade. These questions are not intimidating nor are they scary. It's just complicated to talk about a topic when the last time you felt it was about 5 years ago.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all I don't know who that lady is. Fear means your weak, pathtic, your a coward. I don't fear anything I learned from a little boy on that you don't fear nothing. Nothing keeps me awake at night expect my anger. It hasn't done nothing to me. I don't notice anything about evoultion. Fear comes from the pathtic, the weak, and cowards. I've never stopped myself. No i do not. Its never a good thing to feel. Because like i said you got fear your coward, your weak, your pathtic. Everytime i think i fear something i go out in the world and do what i have to do to prove i don't fear anything.
ReplyDeleteI didn’t understand the quote one bit when I first took a look at it. I had no idea what it was saying or what it had to do with this blog. However, after giving it some thought I think I now have a good idea on what this quote means. I think Mary is trying to tell us to live life without fear. People need to go through life and do whatever they want and not let fear stop you because if you do let fear stop you it spoils your dreams and changes you as a person. If you let fear rule your life you won’t take risks or experience life as it was meant to be. Instead you will walk this shadow of your life. I could be wrong but that’s what I got from just a small quote like that.
ReplyDeleteFear, what is fear? That’s a pretty good question because fear could be many things it’s like asking if all people are the same? No one is like another in this world, we can have things in common or even look like someone else, but no one is just like another. Fear is the same way, people can have the same fears, but for each person you go to they have a different reason to fear what they do. Like me for example, spiders scare the crap out of me because they just look creepy, someone else might hate them because of a personal experience. Fear can be anything or anyone and it’s hard to give something like fear a pinpoint definition. If I had to define fear though this would be it: Fear- a person, place, or thing that causes an individual to be bothered or scared of its outcome. It’s a vague definition but I think it gets the general idea across.
Now even though spiders are a huge fear of mine, it isn’t even close to my biggest fear. The way I look at it is I can kill spiders or get away from them this fear I can’t. At night I sometimes will lie in bed and think about examples of this fear. What I fear the most is being embarrassed. When I say this I’m not talking about being embarrassed in front of my family or friends, what I mean is being in front of complete strangers and make a fool out of myself. When ever that happens I get all red in the face, start to sweat, and end up making a bigger fool of myself. I do it all the time and I try to run things over in my mind about how to fix it before it happens, but no matter how detailed the plan is as soon as I get alone in a space by myself with no one I know, it goes right out the window. It annoys the heck out of me because I love going out and having a good time, but I hate turning into a wooden plank when I meet new people. This fear has been with me for as long as I can remember, because no matter how young I was I stilled hated being in front of people I don’t know. This fear really affects my life because it stops me form going outside of my comfort zone to have a good time. This means I rarely ever go up to Philly with some of my friends just because I don’t want to embarrass myself in public. It doesn’t take me long to regret not going with them out to Philly or something either. Shortly after I get off the phone with them I start to think of what I could be doing and what could be happening, but instead I’m just sitting at home. This is the worst feeling for me because since this is the last year I’ll see many of my friends I want to go out and have a good time, not sit around while they have all the fun. So you may ask me, how do I do I deal with it? Well I normally sneak out into the living room at night and drink (just kidding my dad would kill me). No, what I really do is try to make plans to get over this fear for the next time, but as soon as the next time comes my plans go bye-bye. If anyone says they aren’t scared of anything they are a flat out liar, because there is something we are all scared of whether we want to admit it or not. For me my fear isn’t a person, place, or thing well not counting spiders. For me my fear is an emotion and this fear just won’t go away.
PART1
ReplyDeleteI interpret this quote as, when you start doubting yourself and paying too much to the possibilities of adversities, then you start thinking that you can't do it and soon or later you simply don't have a dream to aim for anymore. I absolutely agree with that to a certain extent, and I think I'll probably try to read more about Mary Manin Morrissey.
Fear to me is not only something that would prevent you from pursuing what you want, but it's also something you don't want to experience. Fear to me can be also fear of an event taking place that wouldn't just be stopping you, but can cause you pain.
My ultimate fear that's always been haunting me since I could remember is fear of death. Death to me is forever, it's ultimate and permanent. Worse is slow death, a painful death, or even worse a slow unexpected death that I wouldn't have enough time to say my goodbyes. I also believe in the hereafter and punishment, and knowing and whole heartedly believing that all is being accounted for, I know I'm not such a good person. I try to be, but I get lost sometimes and I don't ever want to forget my ways. I see other people literally change and be EXACTLY who they used to condemn, I don't want that, I want to always have my morals, ethics, and faith. Now death is a fear that hasn't really prevented me from doing anything I want, it actually motivates me to do good. To help others, to be a good friend, and overall person.
My other fears would be losing family. We grew up as a pretty close knit family and I'm the youngest. I'm starting to see the signs that we are all going on our different directions and it hurts. I never imagined that we would all at one point be a bit more selfish and only be concerned with ourselves for the time being. Losing them to death would be worse, I text everyone in my family goodnight. I make sure on rainy nights and snow storms that I'm the worry wart that's making sure everyone is safe. I'm not going away for college, and I'm not going to be like my sisters who are never to be around. I want to enjoy every moment I have with my parents, because they won't always be there. I'm only 18 and I did not have enough of them and they don't have the energy anymore to be all over me like they used too. Therefore until I have my own family, I'm going to do everything in my hand to have this family stay close. Which brings me to my last fear: never having a family of my own. I'd rather not get into that, but it simply consists of me finding my soulmate and raising beautiful children. It sounds cheesy, but I find it comforting. I'm not money motivated like my brother, nor am I career motivated like my sisters, I'm family motivated.
PART2
ReplyDeleteMy fears didn't really change, they did become stronger. For example freshman year, I still feared the same things, but it wasn't as strong, they were dormant in the back of my mind while I had the mentality of LIVE LIFE crap engraved into my mind. I started waking up around beginning of Junior year and realized, "Shit, this is the time I get serious to make sure my life ends up how I want it to be." Those fears become more vivid, and motivated me to straighten up."
Fear stops me from doing bad things, therefore I don't ever regret it. Yes, maybe I became more constrained but I don't regret it, I see it as growing up. People literally get irked at the idea of me staying home for college, but I don't regret it because I'm not really into school anyways. I'm still getting my education, which I don't need to pay for and have my parents suffer more through putting another child through college expenses.
My overall fear that involves all those fears is the fear of failure, because to me if any of those fears occur then something failed. Fear never feels good to me, wether in a game or anywhere. It's the throwing up feelings, it's that look over your shoulder every second when you're home alone at night feeling, and it's a feeling that overwhelms me as a paranoid person. I deal with it with a prayer, or trying to convince my self otherwise by thinking of other things. Now that I really think about it, I don't know what exactly puts my fear to sleep. Reassurance is always nice, but other then that I'm not sure exactly how I deal with it. Best I can offer is you know that feeling you are waiting to acceptance or rejection, lets say from a significant other, then you start talking with people and listening to music, maybe concentrate on sports, then you realize that you're still waiting for an answer, that's how my fears are like. They're always there, just I put them away and they'll pop up once in a while.
My interpretation of this quote is When you allow the negatives things out do the positive you can't see the positive anymore, and your dreams become blocked. Fear to me is an emotion brought on by pain or anxiety. Fear is different to many people. Some fear dying or failing in a certain class. In my opinion its deeper than that, fear is something that can kill you. If you allow fear to take over your life you won't know anything else but fear. You won't be able to enjoy your life because you fear something bad is going to happen, and I'm a strong believer that if you believe something from the bottom of your heart and you speak whatever you believe it can become reality. My biggest fear is losing a parent. My parents mean the world to me and they are the pillars that at times keep me standing. I know sooner than later I am going to have to learn how to stand on my own but sooner is later for that. I have had this fear since before 8th grade. This fear grew in me because of everyone I know that has lost a parent. It seems so hard for them and although I am a strong person I am not sure if I would be this strong if I didn't have my parents. This fear doesn't keep me awake at night unless I am a far distance from my parents for example when I went away last year I was fearful because I didn't want anything to happen to my parents. I have the fear in me that if I go away something bad will happen to my parents and that fear evolved when my parents got divorce. I never let my fear stop me from going away because it't just a fear and there is no fact behind my fear also because I have to grow out of it. I'm going to be going away to college in a couple months and I can't let this fear keep me back. I never regretted not doing anything because I always pushed myself to do it so that I could prove to myself that nothing would happen. In my opinion fear is never a good thing to have, it prevents you from doing what you want and need to do. Fear can also make you sick! I don't deal with my fear, I have learned to just brush it off or try to think about something else or keep me busy to keep my mind off of it! Fear is Danger, Dear is Evil and if you don't watch out if can kill you!
ReplyDeleteMy interpretation of the quote is that your dreams become impossible when you let fear get more power over you then your beliefs. Fear is the thought of danger whether it is really there or not. My biggest fear is dieing without being remembered. To live this world and having no one even know I was on it. Also, I fear of losing all hope. This have been my fears for as long as I can remember and I don't know where it comes from. I have stopped myself from doing things because of fear. If I believe I can do something, however when the time comes to do it I want to not try and still think I can then try and maybe fail, then know I can't. I do regret not doing some of the things. I believe fear can be a good thing. As The Doctor once said "fear keeps the mind sharp and the reflexes quick. Which in some situations will save your life.
ReplyDelete"You block your dream when you allow your fear to grow bigger than your faith."
ReplyDeleteThis quote is saying that in order to accomplish your goal in life, you can’t let fear overrun your life. When I hear the word ‘fear’, I think of it as a feeling. For example, I touch an ice cube and feel the coldness of it. When I see a spider, I feel fearful. The difference between fear and feelings like coldness is that the stimuli for fear are different for each person. Anyone can say “this stove is hot”, but not everyone would say that clowns are scary. There are also many situations where people aren’t afraid of an object but an event, like being scared of under-achieving. As for me, my biggest fear is bugs. However, there are some bugs I can tolerate and some that I can’t. Spiders, flies, mosquitoes, ladybugs and butterflies are some of the bugs that I can’t stand. Worms, ants, and snails are tolerable. This is a fear I’ve had ever since I was little. I’ve come a long way with my fear, though; I don’t run out of a room with a fly in it anymore and I can look at a butterfly and remain calm (just so long as it’s at a comfortable distance). The idea of fear has evolved for me in the sense that because I’m more mature I can handle things that are supposed to be scary in a composed manner. When I’m riding a roller coaster and my picture is taken, I always have a straight face; they just don’t seem as exciting anymore. Back to the subject of my fear, I believe that fear is something learned from experience. When I was little, maybe three or four years old, I was taken to the hospital because I had so many mosquito bites on my legs. I wasn’t playing near a nest or anything, they just liked my legs. There were so many bites that my legs looked like disfigured hot dogs. There was a time in boy scouts where I was out on a camping trip (my first and last camping trip) and my tent buddy decided to bring food into the tent even though the advisors advised against it. There were so many bugs getting in that I couldn’t sleep. I walked out of the tent and grabbed a fishing-net to put around my sleeping bag so that I’d have double protection from the bugs, but even so I was awake till dawn. Despite that event, along with many other similar dealings, I don’t really regret not being able to do stuff like that. Besides, I’m not an outdoors man anyway. Fear can be a good thing to feel to keep you from doing really stupid stuff, like jumping into a lion pit. Many people do things in the ‘spur of the moment’ which may or may not result in pain and/or death. If there wasn’t any fear of doing these things, imagine how much the number of hospitalized patients will grow. Fear is a fundamental element of common sense; without it, there’s no stopping us from giving in to the ‘spur of the moment’. To answer the last question, I say that there is no real answer. You just deal with it. Fear is a normal part of everyone’s lives, no matter how odd one’s phobia may be.
I'm guessing she means that if you do not take the steps to complete your dream then it won't happen. She is trying to say that we are scared of taking those steps. I think fear is exactly what everyone thinks it is. Fear is being scared. I don't fear anything and anyone. Fear stops you from doing certain things. When I was thirteen I watched a movie called Stephen king's It. That movie was super scary. The clown terrified me. I wouldn't go certain places in my house. I wouldn't dare venture to the basement. In the movie the clown lurked in sewers, i also stayed away from there. After a while i challenged myself to watch the movie in the dark. After a few years I still was a little scared. Now I just laugh at such a film. Being scared of that clown stopped me from doing a lot of things. Fear comes in different shapes and sizes. Some might be afraid of heights. Some might be afraid of mice. Fear is Character trait to me.Depending on what type of person you are , will determine what you are scared of. If you are a thug or gangster locked up all your life, im sure a clown won't scare you. This is just my opinion. You never know, Because you never know who people are on the inside.
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