In ancient China, there was a very famous kung fu master who dwelled in the mountains.

Every year, thousands of young men filled with energy and enthusiasm would climb up the mountains to knock on his door.

Every year, he only allowed the best to enter and the rest would have to wait one more year.

Whatever happens behind the walls of his sanctuary stays hidden from the outside world.

His students were loyal to a fault. They would rather die than to divulge their secret lessons or their teacher’s famed teaching techniques so the Kung Fu master’s name was often shrouded in much secrecy and controversy.

One story did leak out though…

How it slipped from someone’s lips does not matter, but the lesson behind that story does.

It was rumored that in the training grounds was a hall that no one could enter until the right time.

One day, the master choose a boy who had been with him and trained under him for many seasons.

He took the boy into the hall. The hall was dark and there were not enough lights to see to the very end of it.

In the middle of this vast hall was a pool.

On the pool was a plank stretched all the way across.

The master walked the boy to the edge of the pool and in the pool, the boy saw bones. Human bones.

The master said, “This pool is filled with poison.”

The boy gulped hard and nodded his head.

“At the end of 7 days, you have to walk across this pool on that plank. If you fall, you will die.”

The boy knew that this was the test of his life but he respected his master too much to say nothing in his defense,

Then the master walked him out of the hall, locked the door and took him into the courtyard with a pond. Over the pond is was a similar plank stretched all the way across.

The master then turned to the boy and said, “This is where you will practice. On the seventh day, we will see if you make it out alive.”

So for seven days and nights, the boy practiced walking on the plank. He did very well because compared to all the other more rigorous training, the plank walk was easy.

Yet, whenever the boy thought about the pool of poison, he gulped back his fear and got back up on the plank to practice more.

Soon, the boy was able to do perfect jumps on the plank. He was even able to walk blindfolded.

On the seventh day, the master reopened the hall.

The boy walked in. He looked pale and very afraid.

“There is no reason for you to fear,” the master said, “You have been practicing well.”

The student nodded but he did not look any surer than before.

“Get on the plank.” the master commanded.

The student hesitated and looked around. He was very scared and has begun to sweat, but he dared not disobey his master so he got on the plank.

He stood on the plank looking at the bones under the shimmering surface.

“Walk.” the master’s voice echoed around the dark empty hall.

The student walked slowly. Every step took him further away from the edge and away from safe land.

Each step he took, the fear within him got stronger and his heart pounded against his chest so loud he was afraid the plank would start shaking.

His fears made the plank seem a lot thinner and a lot longer although he knew it was the same plank in the courtyard.

In the middle of the pond, the student stopped. He could not go any further. He was so shaken he wanted to sit down. He was so afraid he could not even turn around to make it back.

Out from the darkness, he heard his master’s voice again, “Walk.”

He took one more step forward and because he was so gripped with fear, he wavered and fell.

As he went head-under, he screamed and started splashing about.

In the darkness, he heard his master laughing.

Then he realized the pool of poison was just water!

The master continued to laugh as he helped his student out of the water.

“Why did you fall in?” the master asked after letting his student catch his breath, “You practiced so well in the courtyard.”

“I lost concentration, master.”

“Why?”

“Because I was scared.”

The master looked at the boy and said, “Fear pushed you in, my son. That is what fear does to us. It grips you and stops you from moving forward. Because of fear, every step you take is uncertain and it limits what you are capable of doing. Learn how to overcome your fears and you will learn your true potential.”

Each time we face our fear, we gain strength, courage, and confidence in the doing.

Many of our fears are tissue-paper-thin, and a single courageous step would carry us clear through them.  ~Brendan Francis