Threats

“Watch for snakes.” Those may have been the most common words I heard growing up next to I love you. My dad said them to me every time I got out of the truck to open the main gate to the ranch. Our place was on the Texas coastal plains and considered very snaky. I’ve killed hundreds of snakes there, thirteen was the most in one day. Poisonous snakes were a very real threat. We managed the threat by never putting our hands anywhere we couldn’t see, wearing boots and looking at the ground while walking. Years after working at the ranch I was still finding money on the ground because I was so use walking with a downward gaze.

I’ve continued to manage threats to my life. Being fair skinned I put on sunscreen. I also wear a helmet, bright colored clothing, and ride mostly on hike and by trails while cycling. Melanoma or getting hit by a car could kill me. They are real threats.

Recently a friend died in a sudden tragic household accident. He was a smart accomplished man. For some reason he didn’t perceive the situation he was in as being a threat to him. In a moment his existence was over and his family’s life changed forever.

His passing got me thinking of the nature of threats. Most of my life I’ve been good at identifying real threats that could do physical harm to me or my family. My problem has been with phantom threats, those that seem real, but are not. Some of those are embarrassment, criticism, mistakes, and failures. They have caused emotional distress, but no damage to life or limb.

Through my life I made the mistake of reacting to phantom threats. They have caused me to think less of myself and kept me from pursuing worthwhile opportunities. My life wasn’t all it could have been.

I have found something to help me manage phantom threats.  Eckhart Tolle explained this well in his book A New Earth. “When you are seemingly diminished in some way and remain in absolute non-reaction, not just externally, but also internally, you realize that nothing real has been diminished, that through becoming ‘less’, you become more.”

Theodore Roosevelt said, “Only those are fit to live who do not fear to die.” He was referring to physical death. However, for me that applies to what Eckhart was discussing, which is the Ego. By staying present and watching the Ego be lessened, or dying a little, my real self is strengthened. It makes me wonder if this is what Jesus meant when he mentioned the poor in spirit.

Every time I have given in to a phantom threat that moment in my life is less that it could have been. Sometimes those moments have lingered with me for a long time. I don’t like living like that. Now when I find myself reacting to a threat I ask myself if it’s real or just a phantom. That helps me move forward by either dealing with it because it could physically injury me or allowing my Ego to be diminished because it is a specter.

At the ranch we often found skins shed by snakes. At first glance they can look like snakes. But they were hollow threats, a shell with no fangs to harm me, just fabricated in my mind. My life is better when I see them for what they are.

May you have enough today, one moment at a time.