Fierce with reality
“When you truly possess all you have been and done...you are fierce with reality.” (Florida Scott-Maxwell, The Measure of My Days)
Fierce with reality. Billions of years. Your life. You can trust it. Easy to forget. We get caught in what we think is reality. We mistake our thoughts about reality for reality itself. We shape reality through emotion.
Worry about a decision. Fear of a speaking engagement. Upset, anger. What if our emotions aren't created by these externals, but form in our mind through other pathways, then go on to shape our understanding of what is happening?
This is what neuroscientist Lisa Feldman Barrett amid others proposes. "We don’t see something scary and react in fear, but experience fear and so perceive something as scary," is how you can grapple with it.
It implies that our reactions to events aren’t inevitable. Events happen. The brain instantly labels events, then searches for reference points to create story. Emotions rise with story, but they’re detached from the event as it is happening in the moment.
Fierce with reality. We forget. We can ride emotions, examine them. What is story? What is happening? Dare I live into this particular event? You’ve choices. Another thing: We are built for awareness.
