My family spent a week of the Christmas holidays in Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic. We spent the majority of our vacation relaxing at the pool and walking along the white sandy beaches. But one day was very different. We found ourselves staring death in the face.
We were picked up at our hotel by a Punta Cana Adventure Tour and driven to the Los Haitises National Park. Haitises means “highlands” or “mountain range” in Arawak (the Taino Indian language). Tucked in a remote corner of the Dominican Republic’s northeast region, the park is a 1,600 square kilometer humid forest with vast stretches of untouched mangrove forests, secluded beaches, ancient caves. They transferred my family which included my son, his wife and 2 small children along with 10 other tourists into this caterpillar like truck and it started to drive up this mountain road. They didn’t tell us in the travel brochure that the road was unpaved and filled with potholes the size of 10 ft craters. Driving up it was a total nightmare. The truck was constantly bouncing up and down making us hold on for dear life as if we were on top of a bucking bronco. My heart sank several times thinking the truck would get stuck or worse yet tip over edge and plummet over the side of the mountain.
What a way to end my life.
Only by the grace of God did we manage to miraculously get to the top.
The view was incredibly beautiful. We gazed upon endless miles and miles of lush green tropical vegetation- the kind you see in Tarzan Movies. There must of have been one of those warm tropical downpours minutes before we arrived because now the sun was shining, it was humid and in a deep blue sky there was the most vibrant colored rainbow.
I felt total joy as I stared at the incredible rainbow or was it relief. I heard my inner voice whisper the message for you is to not allow fear stop you from doing what you want to do. Another message from my inner self reminded me once again the right thing to do is not run away from your fear but to face it.
We all have fears. Maybe you have a fear of death. Maybe you have a fear of growing old. Maybe your fear is you’ll never be able to defeat an addiction, or you’re afraid you won’t be able to eliminate a lifelong smoking habit. Fear is nothing more than a state of mind. I have seen people overcome the worst spider phobias and flying phobias by helping them change their subconscious thinking through hypnosis.
As personal development expert Marianne Williamson stated “You must learn a new way to think before you can master a new way to be.”
