Last night I had dreams I can’t remember but woke up thinking about how fear is a reminder of our embodiment, that we live in a finite body. Other emotions may give us feeling of expansiveness - but fear reminds us that we live in breakable, mortal bodies.

And that our loved ones do too.

That we and other animals are built in such a way that we have an autonomous emotional reminder of our mortality and the necessary motivating energy to guard our lives is pretty astounding.

And we spend so much time imagining we are immortal but our fears remind us this is not so.

Fear is challenging to bear and contain - but if I think of it as a reminder that tethers me to mortality and therefore reality- perhaps I can be more grateful for it when it emerges.

I can breathe and say to myself:

“It is just a reminder that life is short and precious. This is my reminder. This is the reality. This is natural. This is why life is beautiful”