courage and fear

From Wikipedia:

Courage, also known as fortitude, is the ability to confront fear, pain, danger, uncertainty or intimidation. It can be divided into "physical courage" -- in the face of physical pain, hardship, and threat of death -- and "moral courage" -- in the face of shame, scandal, and discouragement.

Fear is a basic emotional sensation and response system ("feeling") initiated by an aversion to some perceived risk or threat.

I re-read The Alchemist over the weekend, having finally bought my own copy. I think this may turn in to a monthly tradition, seeing as how I seem to change so quickly nowadays. I feel a little like a butterfly emerging from a cocoon. How fucking prolific, I know, but it's an honest statement of how I feel. And how I feel is something I've been very attuned to lately. Eduardo and I had a discussion about that after our date Saturday night and again, a longer version, on the phone yesterday. Words like 'courage' and 'fear' seem to be all around me lately.

From The Alchemist:

"Courage is the quality most essential to understanding the Language of the World."

“The fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself.”

"There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure."

While these quotes have stuck out in my mind, and I plan to keep them there to ponder a while, I find that this one draws my focus more and more:

“Because, wherever your heart is, that is where you’ll find your treasure.”

Notice, no 'fear'…no 'courage'…just a blanket statement said with conviction. I find that that is how I am today. I know where my heart is. And I know where I'll find my treasure.