lions and tigers and cannibals. oh my.

I set a number of personal goals for myself in 2013. I spend much of my time alone and much of it in silence, with only the voices in my head to keep me company. I love Ted Talks, so this year I'm vowing to view or listen to at least one of them each week. Of course, I hadn't really thought through how I would carry out my plan so today I logged on to the website and became immediately overwhelmed with all the choices before me. So I randomly selected something that looked interesting to me from a list of the most recent talks and now, in hindsight, I believe it was the perfect kick-off to my year.

It should come as no surprise to me that I would be drawn to the particular talk I chose, being your classic Type 6 in the ancient personality-type system called the Enneagram. In his book, The Enneagram: A Christian Perspective, Richard Rohr says that we sixes have a special importance because our root sin (each "type" has a particular sin associated with it) was not recognized as such in Western society: fear. How did he know I love being special? Many people who have worked with the Enneagram for a long time are convinced that the six is by far the most frequently encountered human type in our society, yet he claims that at Enneagram workshops, only a few are willing to identify themselves as such. More good news.

In our most immature, or unredeemed state, we sixes are anxious, fearful and even paranoid. We tend to hold our cards close because we believe whatever we divulge about ourselves will be used against us. The list goes on but I think you see where I'm going with this and perhaps you get now that my randomly selected Ted Talk 2013.1 probably wasn't a random choice at all.

In her talk, "What Fear Can Teach Us," novelist Karen Thompson Walker suggests that the most creative minds are the ones who fail to leave all fear behind. She goes on to make an interesting link between fear and stories, as they both possess the same components or architecture. Fears provoke vivid imagery and suspense, and so do the best stories. Both force us to think about the future and, in a good story, one thing always leads to another. So the real question is, "How do we choose to READ our fears?" And our answer to that question will have a profound affect on how we will choose to live our lives. Properly read, they can offer a little wisdom, a little insight and ultimately lead us to the truth.

So I leave you with this thought, and the link to the video I viewed:

"Courage means to feel fear, but in its proper context and perspective.In The Republic Plato Makes the Guardians of the City the mavens of courage. The way they acquire that virtue is to learn what should legitimately be feared and what should not be." - The 9 Ways of Working.

May your 2013 be year of great courage and beauty.