<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>In Snakes, Snakes, Snakes<\/a>, I wrote about being frightened by a snake on my path while bicycling months ago and seeing a few dead snakes as well. <\/font>I don\u2019t feel alone in my aversion to snakes because it is a rather common phobia\/fear\/aversion. <\/font>It used to be that I would jump out of my skin if I simply saw a snake on TV (worse would be a larger-than-life, big-screen snake while at the movies). <\/font><\/p>\n <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>A few years ago, I had an exceptionally vivid dream that involved snakes. <\/font>Instead of being in fear of them in my dream, I was at peace with them and there was an element of camaraderie between the snakes and I. <\/font>The dream was so powerful and significant feeling that I wondered if I had lost my fear of snakes. <\/font>I never tested the theory because I seldom watch TV and had not really seen any movies with snakes in them. <\/font>I still lived in Saint Louis at the time, so I was far enough removed from \u201cthe wild\u201d as to not have much of an opportunity to run across a snake in my daily life (although I had seen possums, bats and a coyote there). <\/font>After a time, I kind of forgot about the nature of the dream and my curiosity regarding my fear potentially having dissipated.<\/p>\n <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>This past week, I was filling time and meandered into a pet store which, among many other things, sold snakes. <\/font>There was a baby ball python in his tank and I decided to face my fear of snakes in a limited way. <\/font>I stood in front of the tank for probably 10 minutes just looking at the snake as it undulated around the tank going from being exposed on a faux tree limb to hiding in a faux tree trunk towards the back of the tank. <\/font>After a while, it came out of its hiding place and moved towards the glass of the tank to check out what was going on. <\/font>All the while, I stood there observing the snake with no fear. <\/font>Even when the snake was near the glass and looking out towards me, I continued to observe the snake. <\/font>No fear. <\/font>As a matter of fact, I looked so long and so hard that I could appreciate some aspect of beauty the snake possessed. <\/font>In return for the snake\u2019s part in my experiment, I sent the snake Reiki to help it feel calm and peace in what I perceived to have been a chaotic environment. <\/font>At one point, someone tapped on the glass of the tank which I found to be downright annoying. <\/font>In reading, ball pythons are pretty docile but also extremely nervous. <\/font>Tapping on the glass seemed like an upsetting event for an animal that is easily nervous.<\/p>\n <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>Standing in front of the tank, observing the snake forever was one step forward in facing just one of my fears. <\/font>In an earlier conversation with someone I actually attempt to heed when she speaks, she mentioned the unnecessary weight of fear that I carry regarding New Orleans. <\/font>In Cajun Chaos<\/a>, I recounted my early run-in with New Orleans which led to my vowing to not come NEAR New Orleans – EVER. <\/font>It is an amazing testament to the concept of \u201cnever say never\u201d that I live so close right now. <\/font>Just as I was able to move beyond my fear and find some semblance of beauty in the python, the next task is to move beyond the fear of being a victim of violent crime in order to find the beauty in New Orleans. <\/font>That can only be done when I stop cowering and turn to face New Orleans.<\/p>\n <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>I\u2019ve posted the video below because the story the video tells is about fear. <\/font>Notice how, initially, the sound of the one guy walking behind the main character creates the tension. <\/font>Yet, as the main character continues walking, his fear increases as the one guy becomes two, then, three. <\/font>As his fear increases, the three increase to legions. <\/font>The harder the main character runs away from the legions of menacing people chasing him, the more people there are chasing him. <\/font>Finally, he stops and turns around. <\/font>And they stop. <\/font>As he faces the initial two who followed him, they both smile as if to acknowledge that he has just figured out their secret. <\/font>It is at that point that he takes his first step towards the menacing legions. <\/font>And they recede away from him. <\/font>He takes another step forward and they recede. <\/font>With each step forward he takes, they, as a group, recede until he is running towards them and they are now running FROM him. <\/font>And that is the nature of fear; it dogs your every footstep or footfall as long as it is behind you. <\/font>Yet, once you turn to face the fears and walk towards them, they disappear.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n <\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/p>\n \n <\/font><\/font>