The Track of Love and The Track of Fear

In the book The Mastery of Love by Don Miguel Ruiz, he explains that there are only two tracks we can live on in life. The track of love, or the track of fear.

The track of fear is the default track. That’s the one we see every day. In the news. In the way people talk. In how quick we are to judge or defend. Fear is loud. It is everywhere. But when we drop below the noise, below the opinions, below the stories in the mind, into something more minimal and simple, we find love. It has always been there.

When the heart feels threatened, the mind jumps in to take control. The mind wants to avoid pain. It wants to predict danger before it arrives. It wants to make sure we don’t get cut again. But in that attempt to protect, we end up shutting down the very thing we actually want. Connection. Presence. Intimacy.

I notice this in myself when I feel uncertainty. When I don’t feel stable. When I don’t know what is coming next. I can feel how fast I move toward fear when the ground under me feels shaky. And I’ve noticed it in simple moments too. When someone doesn’t respond right away, I used to assume something was wrong. Now I pause. I breathe. I give space. I choose not to rush into fear. I can feel the difference when I slow down and choose love instead. It changes the outcome.

And most of us learned fear first. It came from childhood wounds. Rejection. Trying to be enough. Trying to be accepted. Trying to be safe. We took those wounds and built our personality around them. We brought that fear into adulthood. Into relationships. Into love.

Love works different. Love opens. Love listens. Love breathes deeper before reacting. Love learns not to control anything.

This is the reflection I took from this moment today. I am choosing which track I’m walking on. Fear can make a response automatic. But awareness can make it conscious.

Which track are you living in right now?
Are you showing up from love, or are you still living from fear?