What makes us afraid...

Sent to me by my friend PB when I was encouraging him to 'write his story'...this is all I got him to write but I will keep asking:

What Makes Us Afraid?
It is the same for each of us, although what makes us afraid – what makes us forget whom and what we are – may be different. There are many ways to describe the factors that shape our fear and influence our behavior: past trauma and conditioning, inherited tendencies and learned responses, past-life karma, and current pressures, human biology, psychology and spirituality. We can develop some useful self-understanding by considering any or all of these, but I do not believe we can ever claim to have a definitive explanation of all of our behavior. We remain, like so much of the universe, something of a mystery to ourselves… the useful question if we want to live our soul’s longing is, How can we expand the opportunities and increase the probabilities of living consistent with this nature?
If I want to live my ability to be fully present and compassionate, my ability to be with it all -- the joy and the sorrow -- I must find the ways, the people, the places, the practices that support me in being all I truly am. I must cultivate ways of being that let me feel the warmth of encouragement against my heart when it is weary. I must be fiercely and compassionately honest with myself about those choices and actions that are inconsistent with my deepest nature and soul’s desires. I must find the song lines that run though my life, the melodies that remind me of what I really am and call me gently back to acting on this knowing. For me….that song is..."The Dance", by Garth Brooks........I cannot help but cry every time I hear it for reasons I shall not elaborate on here, it touches my very soul like no other song, except maybe "Unchained Melody" by the Righteous Brothers. Crying heals wounds and opens new ones for me, and I believe makes me a better person....Never be afraid to love or tell someone you love them. There is another song, also by Garth, that touches my soul..........."If Tomorrow Never Comes".........please friends......always tell that special person you love them.......because, life is short, and you never know when you may reach your end. As for me.....I am very tired of wrestling with my own mortality, my life in general the past three years has been for the most part, unenriched. There is an exception here, known but to a few....I have a light in my life, one that burns brightly and sustains me on a daily basis. Were it not for that loving, caring, giving light, I fear that one of my alter egos would have done away with my existence by now. I shall evermore remain your friend..........Kodiak