Turn on the light.

I am not into slasher movies. I just don't like being scared.
I am a self preservation sort. If it has the potential to scare or scar me, it's avoided. I mean, I freak out watching Man vs Wild. I'm like... "no Bear Grylls, I will not ever squeeze elephant dung into my face if I'm stuck in the African plains and I'm thirsty."
It's entirely easy to make such a declaration from the comfort of my soft leather lounge chair, double shot latte in hand.

Self preservation.
Preservation of me.
Keeping myself preserved.

And so I avoid scary movies.
And I don't jump off cliffs.
And I'm safe...safe,safe, safe.

...and then suddenly.

Two words have me off kilter and peering out through my fingers, not wanting to see what is unfolding before me.
Fear is funny like that. 
It always plays on the maybe realm and rarely on the plains of realistic fact.
The thriller movie is scary when the darkened doorway could possibly lead to certain peril (and the axe wielding mad man).The bungy jump or free fall plane jump frightens me because of the potential for something going horribly wrong.

The bread and butter of fear is the possibility of failure.

Two words have me off kilter and gravitating towards the city of 'what if'.

Diagnosis
&
Prognosis

My tendency to preserve in safety and sameness the course of my family has been sent into a tailspin by these two words.

Diagnosis is the axe wielding mad man. He's lurking in some darkened doorway. I haven't seen him and I don't actually know how dangerous he is,  but the music is building.... alerting us to the fact that we are walking into a frightful moment.
I always got cranky at those moments in the thriller... yelling at the screen "turn on the light!!!!Don't walk around in the dark!!!"

Turn on the light.
Don't walk around in the dark.

Prognosis is the 500 million foot bungy jump. The urgent hope is survival, the great desire is to retain some dignity in the fall and the wanted outcome is to bounce back up.
Odds are, you'll be fine. You leap, you hurtle,  you bounce back.
Odds are you'll be fine.

Dealing in fear is dealing in the futile. It's dealing in the shadows and the maybe of a darkened doorway.

Diagnosis & Prognosis. Two words that have tentacles of fears and worries and wonderings. They stretch out from these two words, these fears and worries and wonderings- and left unchecked they wrap around you so tightly until you lie paralyzed in their grip.

And so I pry my fingers from my eyes.
I turn on the light.
Don't walk around in the dark.
Disable the potential of the tentacles of fears and worries and wondering.

The Spirit I have been given is not one of fear. But rather of love, of power and a sound mind.

Sound minded moments must trump the frenzy of fear.

Turn on the light.