Community:Church of the Dark Star/Sermons/20160820 Balance Being Scared"

"Being Scared", from the perspective of the Balance Belief, presented by Winfield

Boo! Did I scare you? Hail everyone! I'm Winfield, the Governor of PaxLair. It's great to be here! Thanks for having me! I greet Amber Raine and Kazyn Phoenixfyre for their perspectives based on Chaos and Order. I will speak from the perspective of Balance.

I like to start my conversation with a little humor. Our topic today is about Being Scared.

I was sailing out in Spindrift Bay the other day. Of course, I was doing a little fishing. I caught about a dozen fish and knew I'd be eating plenty well by the evening. Suddenly a huge sea serpent came out of the water and nearly crushed my ship. It was attacking! My crew brought out oars and raised the sails to get away quickly. We were scared! The fish were flopping all around in my ship as we were tossed around by the waves. I yelled out to one of my crew and asked, "Why is that serpent attacking us?" My crewman shouted back with fear in his eyes, "Because it's hungry for Fish and Ships!!" adapted from: http://www.corsinet.com/braincandy/jkscary.html

*smiles*

So let's look at being scared from a Balanced perspective. Remember what Balance is: "a condition in which different elements are equal or in the correct proportions." Be steady, stay on course, see both sides of the fence, be on the fence, assess pros versus cons. Being Balanced is simply an approach to situations and life. In our discussion today, we Balance between Chaos and Order.

First, what are the effects of being scared? Is being scared good or bad? Should you scare people? I've learned that being scared, particularly at an early age, can be healthy. That's because it can prepare children to react to actual threats by simulating threats early in life. Of course, be balanced about this and don't go overboard as that could be bad, unless it's your younger brother that gets all of the attention from mom and dad -- just kidding.

Second, when a person is scared of something, they can choose to fight or flee. The brain is wired to help the person react to something that threatens them or others they care about. Heart rate and blood pressure go up. The body tenses, goes faster, and you become more alert. Other things can happen too, even unexpected things, so I hope you've recently used the privy.

As you are threatened and you become afraid, your body and mind have a fairly balanced response. It orderly does things to get you moving or more alert. It helps you think quickly to even respond chaotically, or unpredictably, to help you fight or flee. So I suggest your physiological reaction to fear is a balanced reaction between Order and Chaos.

Alright, enough classroom lecture about being scared. I think you get it.

*pauses and looks around*

BOO! Scared yet?

Alright, let's have a little audience participation now. Everyone stand up and do the Zombie dance! That will be pretty scary. If you don't have the Zombie dance, ask someone for it. Stand up now and dance the Zombie!

Oh, better yet, everyone lose your heads! Now I am VERY Scared! But I expected it! Did you?

Fear does not need to be caused by something imminent to your survival. You can be afraid by something that is lurking, like higher debt or the increasing cost of worms - OH MY!

A balanced approach to dealing with fear and not become scared or even paranoid is be prepared to be scared! And remember, being scared is not a bad thing if not taken to extremes ... you might finally be forced to make life changes or choices that could improve your life.

Look for opportunities to scare yourself because you know you may think faster, fight to succeed, and all that. Like, take on a more challenging job -- that can be scary, yet if you succeed, you are probably better off. Fish for the bigger fish in a bigger ship with bigger sea serpents around -- massively scary and perilous to succeed. Go into that dungeon and fight bigger monsters or over to Grunvald Shardfall and try to sneak out some ore. Scary! Have a plan, expect the unexpected, and use fear to help you survive. If fear overwhelms you, react by getting help from others so you can still survive.

Keep the Balance.

Thank you all once again for letting me speak here today. Dragonspeed and may the Fish be with you!