Be Not Afraid

1. We can escape fear's paralysis and enter a state of grace where encounters with otherness will not threaten us but will enrich our work and our lives. 

2. We do not need to be our fears, though we will always have fears, for there are other places in our inner landscape from which we can speak and act.

3. As teachers, we can choose the place within ourselves from which our teaching will come just as we can choose the place within our students toward which our teaching will be aimed. 

4. We need not teach from a fearful place: we can teach from curiosity or hope or empathy or honesty, places that are as real within us as are our fears.

5. We can have fears, but we need not be fear -- if we are willing to stand somewhere else in our inner landscape.