Matt's Audio Letter of the Week

Hey everyone, welcome to this week’s FBL, or Feel Better Letter.

This is Matt.

Today, I’m going to keep the message pretty short.

And believe it or not, I’m actually going to read a poem — something I’ve never done before in the Feel Better Letter.

A client recently brought this poem to my attention, and we discussed it in one of our TBC group sessions this week.

It really resonated with me, and I felt it would be valuable to share here along with a few questions to sit with today.

The poem is called “See Paris First.”

It reads:

Suppose that what you fear could be trapped and held in Paris.
Then you would have the courage to go everywhere in the world,
all the directions of the compass open to you,
except the degrees east or west of true north that lead to Paris.

Still, you wouldn’t dare put your toes smack dab in the city limit line.
You’re not even willing to stand on the mountainside miles away
and watch the Paris lights come up at night.

Just to be safe, you decide to stay completely out of France.

But then danger seems too close even to those boundaries,
and you feel the timid part of you covering the whole globe again.

You need the kind of friend who learns your secret and says:
“See Paris first.”

The reason I wanted to read this is because this is really what we do in TBC.

This is the kind of guidance and encouragement we give people when it comes to understanding what it truly means to “see Paris first.”

When you hold onto fear and avoid it, no matter what it is, it slowly begins to expand into your life.

You start making small adjustments.
Small compromises.
Small avoidances.

And eventually, those become bigger compromises.

The poem explains this so well.

At first, maybe you just avoid the city.

Then you avoid even getting close enough to see the lights.

Then all of France becomes off-limits.

Then all of Europe.

And eventually, you feel like you can’t go anywhere… because somehow, you might end up in Paris.

But when you go directly toward Paris, something changes.

You become free.

The whole world opens back up to you.

That is the real secret behind confronting fear.

And it’s why, in TBC, we don’t teach coping with fear or managing fear.

We teach transcending it.

That’s the goal.

To reach a point where you can look at your fear and no longer feel controlled by it.

Because when that happens, the prison fear created begins to disappear.

The world opens up.

You begin doing things your fearful mind once told you were impossible.

That’s what freedom is.

And that’s why we do this work.

Because true freedom cannot exist inside the confinements of fear.

So the question I want to leave you with today is simply this:

What is your Paris?

And how are you going to go there?

And if you need help, please reach out.

With that, wishing you all a great day and a great week.

Looking forward to seeing you soon.