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Dalton Roberts
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MY SUNDAY JOURNAL
By Dalton Roberts
An IPS Feature
5-19-02

STOPPING FEAR & TAKING HEART

On this day in ‘89 I spoke to a graduation class at an elementary school. I had been asked to take the topic of "Advice About Life." Doggone if the main points of my talk don't still feel pretty good.

First, stop fear. It will keep you from realizing your dreams. It will keep you from even trying. And the best way to stop fear is by realizing what you've already survived. Sit down and make a list of what you have already survived and you are going to realize you are one more tough hombre.

Take heart about what you are going to need to learn by remembering what you've already learned. For many months of your life you couldn't walk, talk or control your body functions. You learned to do all those things. And it was no small achievement! It took you months of falling to learn to walk and months of babbling to learn to talk. But, by golly, you learned it.

Start tuning into your Inner Essence as your main teacher. One of the greatest books I've ever read was written by a rock and roll magazine editor. It was Paul Williams' "Remember Your Essence." If you can find one on his website or in any bookstore at any price, buy it.

Call it what you will, there is Something in us that knows much more than what we are consciously aware of. We can learn to tune into it through quietness, meditation, tracking our dreams and stillness. The answer is still, "Be still and know...."  When I face a challenge, sometimes I just say, "I am willing to listen today to anything you want to tell me." Insights come.

You will never find a better Teacher.

CONVENTION OF BODIES

One of my favorite Methodist authors has been E. Stanley Jones. In his book "In Christ," he said, "I have often imagined a convention of bodies talking about the people who inhabit them." What would your body say about the way you treat it?

My pal, Montana Al Harvey, calls his body his "ride." I once called mine "my protoplasmic motor scooter."

Let your body go to that convention of bodies now and then and listen to what it says about the way you inhabit it. Just sit quietly over in the corner and sneak a listen.