The Size of Our Fears

It was a long time ago. Once, a guru and his disciple were walking through a forest. They had been walking for quite some time, and the sun was almost setting. It was impossible to proceed further in the darkness.

So the guru said, "Let's stay here until morning. As soon as dawn breaks, we'll proceed towards our destination."

The disciple said, "But we could be in danger in this dense forest. Sleeping here wouldn't be advisable. We'll have to stay awake for the night."

The guru suggested, "Well, let's do this: I'll sleep first, and you'll keep watch. Then, as soon as you feel sleepy, you wake me up. I'll keep watch, and you can go to sleep."

The disciple agreed.

In a few moments, the guru fell into a deep sleep, and then the disciple saw a terrifying figure approaching him. It was a demon.

The demon screamed loudly upon seeing the disciple, and the disciple was terrified.  This incident had a strange effect. The disciple shrank slightly in fear, while the demon grew larger.

The demon then screamed once more, and the disciple trembled with fear. Now, it shrank even further, and the demon grew even larger.

The demon slowly began to advance toward the disciple. The disciple, already terrified, screamed loudly when he saw the huge demon approaching him. "Gurudev!!!"... and fell unconscious.

Hearing the disciple's voice, the Guru woke up. Seeing the disciple there, he thought he must have been tired of guarding the place, and called out before going to sleep.

The Guru began to guard the place. After a while, the same demon appeared before him and screamed loudly.

The Guru was not frightened at all and said, "Tell me, why are you screaming like this? What do you want?"

This time too, something strange happened. Due to the Guru's courage, his size increased slightly, while the demon's size decreased slightly. For the first time, the demon had found someone who wasn't afraid of him.

In panic, he screamed loudly at the Guru again... This time, the Guru wasn't afraid, and his size grew even larger, while the demon shrank even smaller.

In one last attempt, the demon screamed with all his might, but the Guru smiled and said again, "Tell me, what do you want?"

Then the demon shrank to a tiny size. The Guru took him in his palm, tied him in his dhoti, and then tucked him into his waistband.

Shortly, it was morning. The Guru woke the disciple and told him to move forward. They slowly began to move forward.

Just then, the disciple became excited and said, "Do you know what happened last night? A terrible demon came to kill us…"

"Wait, wait!" Interrupting the disciple, the Guru took out the demon tied in his dhoti and, showing it to the disciple, said, "Are you talking about this one?"

"Yes, it's the same one, but when I saw it yesterday, it was very big. How did it become so small?" the disciple asked, surprised...

The Guru said, "When we try to avoid something in life that we must face, that problem becomes bigger than us and starts controlling us.

But when we are ready to face that problem fearlessly, we become bigger than that problem… and start controlling it."

Read more : -  

Doomsday Glacier: The Alarming Rise of Iceberg Quakes in Thwaites Glacier