Freedom and fear

I love how cannabis shines a light on areas where I’m attempting to control situations and outcomes. Letting go is probably one of the most profound teachings of cannabis.

Because at the end of the day, cannabis knows that methods of control rooted in fear don’t lead to harmonious outcomes. The plants are evolving symbiotically and they teach us to do this too.

 Cannabis teaches freedom from the inside out and from the bottom up.

My controlling behaviours are my responsibility to recognise and unlearn.

I run on the beach every morning with my Kelpie puppy, Zeus….with a lead. The lead is a means of controlling him. Zeus is ridiculously playful…it’s his purpose in life! He wouldn’t intentionally hurt another dog, but my fear of what other people on the beach are going to think if I allow him to greet them freely without permission and off lead is still pretty strong. Most don’t mind, but there are the few that do and the few negative interactions drives my fear based behaviour. Why is it with humans that we seem to internalise negative interactions more than positive?

Zeus doesn’t seem to care too much about the energy of another dog or a human. He’s focussed on play, and his behaviour isn’t altered if he experiences negative interactions…it’s cool to watch and I learn a lot from him. Every day is a new day regardless of what happened yesterday! I love that freedom! Thanks Zeus!

 The same applies with parenting children. As parents, we can be more concerned about what others’ think rather than allowing our kids to take risks and make their own mistakes, or we use fear to try and instill ‘better’ values into them. I’m guilty of this one a lot. Respect to all the parents who are raising their kids to be themselves no matter what others’ think.

I’m currently learning to surf, and my fear of other surfers in the water is almost greater than my fear of power of the ocean, how fucking bizarre is that!

I find writing about what I love is one of the best ways to confront the deep levels of fear of what people think. It helps me focus more on what I love and less on what I think people are thinking (haha), and the feeling of freedom in doing this ‘feels’ really fucking good….so I’ll keep doing it! ….experiencing fear is as certain as death and taxes…(I can’t say that tax has been a certainty in my life these last few years…haha probably a good indication that it’s time I start making some money again!).

Thanks for reading!