Eyes of Fear

How much of life do we live through the lens of fear? How dangerous are our relationships, our jobs, are we ourselves?
How often do we perceive legitimate criticisms of our work as attacks? How often do we conceal our desires out of concern not to be accused of selfishness? How many slights do we silently incur lest any protest be misread?
Opportunities for strengthening communication, building trust and deepening levels of maturity—albeit difficult ones—slip through our fingers when we react through the eyes of fear.
I'm preaching to myself, of course. One of the many lessons of life we learn more slowly than we would have hoped in retrospect. But we do not live in retrospect. We live and learn moving forward. So I do not need to waste time judging my mistakes, (like living through the lens of fear,) when I can more fulfillingly expend my effort learning to live through a lens of love.