Story about fear: A young warrior's lesson how to recognize and battle fear

Once there was a young warrior in training. Her teacher told her that she had to do battle with fear itself. She didn’t want to do that. It seemed too aggressive, scary, and unfriendly. But the teacher said she had to do it and gave her the instructions for the battle. Finally, the day of the battle arrived. The student warrior stood on one side, and fear stood on the other. The warrior was feeling very small, and fear was looking very big and terrifying. They both had their weapons in their hand waiting to do battle.

The young warrior roused herself and went towards fear, and asked, “May I have permission to go into battle with you?” Fear said, “Thank you for showing me so much respect that you ask permission.” Then the young warrior said, “How can I defeat you?” Fear replied, “My weapons are that I talk fast, and I get very close to your face. Then you get completely unnerved, and you do whatever I say. If you don’t do what I tell you, I have no power. You can listen to me, and you can have respect for me. You can even be convinced by me. But if you don’t do what I say, I have no power.”

In that way, the student warrior now learned how to recognize and defeat fear. From that day on the young warrior became wiser and calmer knowing that when people attacked her by speaking loud and fast it was the fear in them talking.