The Fear Emotion

Fear is a gripping emotion that we have all experienced in some form or another.  It is a very counterproductive in the principles of the Law of Attraction.  It is a built-in human instinct that is embedded into the human DNA, as a survival mechanism.  We’ve all heard of the fight or flight instinct, right?  I believe that a reasonable amount of fear can be healthy, as it can stop us from making some really bad decisions and can serve as protection for us.  For example, the fear of what will happen to us if we commit some type of crime.  We all know what the likely outcome would be, so therefore the majority of us avoid these behaviors.  That’s a good thing.  Another example of reasonable fear is taking extra precaution while driving in inclement weather.  The underlying reason why we take this precaution is that it is very likely that if we don’t, we could wind up badly hurt.  These kinds of fear are normal and are built into our rational thinking minds.  However, if left unchecked, fear can run rampant in our minds and really do a number on us.

IRRATIONAL FEAR

This is the “theme of fear”, if you will,  that I have personally suffered from over the years.  I really have no idea why these fears developed, but they are there.  I have a fear of heights, a fear of flying and fear of animals.  Back in 1994 I started suffering from panic attacks.  When I had an encounter, I literally felt like I was going to die.  I am no longer afraid of animals.  In fact, we now have a beautiful Bichon Frise puppy named Sasha and she is just like one of my children.  The amount of love that little puppy has is amazing.  She has been such a beautiful addition to our family, I cannot imagine our lives without her.  How did I overcome my fear of dogs?  Quite simply, out of love.  My beautiful daughter wanted a puppy and I couldn’t possibly say no.  So there you go.  Kids are so wonderful and such powerful creators. The p of my love for her (and wanting to see her happy), transcended my fear of animals.  As for my fear of flying, that is rather strange. I never developed this fear until I was an adult with children.  I had been flying quite frequently all of my life with no problems whatsoever.  After I had my children, I developed this fear because my thought process was “what if something happened to me”?  “Who will take care of them?” This is what my example of irrational fear is.  I had panic attacks for about six months before I knew what they were.  While I took meds to alleviate the attacks, I was dead set against being on long-term medication that spaced me out.  For me, knowing that I was not going to die allowed me to work through these attacks Staying physically active and meditation has helped me tremendously with managing my anxiety.   I know that all of these fears are irrational, but when you are experiencing them, they are very real, nonetheless.

FEAR OF FAILURE

How many missed opportunities have you had in your life because of a fear of failure?  Unfortunately I think this is one of the most common forms of fear.  And it literally robs us of living up to our fullest potential.  I can personally attest to this one as well.   I did not notice however that this was my reason for not achieving my goals at the time.  It was through growth and reflection that I came to realize the amount of self-sabotage I had been practicing in my life.  While it appeared to others on the outside that I was well put together, I knew that I wasn’t living up to my fullest potential.  I was not honoring my soul.  One of the biggest forms of self -sabotage is procrastination.  And boy, I could write a book about procrastination.  I am still working on this while I learn to honor my spirit and not be afraid of success.  For example, this blog.  This is a project that I’ve been wanting to launch for a few years now.  I can honestly say that finding the time to really commit to this goal was real.  However, it was a surmountable task.  I registered my domain in August of 2008 and actually began working on it in December, as the New Year dawning loomed over me.  Now I’m having so much fun, I have no idea what took me so long.  Well……actually I do.  See my next talking point.

FEAR OF NOT BEING GOOD ENOUGH

If we are all honest with ourselves we can attest to the fact that we have all felt this fear at one time or another in our lives.  Whether consciously or subconsciously.  It takes a bit of self-reflection and introspection to realize this fear though.  Especially if you’re pretty good at a lot of things.  Especially if you’re really good at a lot of things actually.  I personally hold myself to some very high standards.  I know that I can be my hardest critic.  But the truth is no one really wants to be analyzed and criticized and give negative feedback, do we?  Of course not.  We all want to be loved and accepted.  Of course that starts within (a subject for another discussion).  Back in August 2008, as I sat and wrote down my goals and my objectives for this blog, I felt great; I felt confident.  However, there was this nagging voice in the back of my head saying, “what if no one cares about what you have to say?”  That, was only one of the crippling phrases that was so silently humming in the background that kept me stagnant.    Eventually my inner spirit drowned out that naysaying negative Nelly in me and I proceeded without caution.  I had things inside of me that I was passionate about and really wanted to share. And boy am I glad I did.  I’m really enjoying this path on my journey.

FEAR OF THE UNKNOWN

Yet another huge fear we suffer from.  This results in us staying in dead end, unfulfilling jobs or holding on to relationships that no longer work.  We stay stuck in a in a holding pattern, not allowing our good to flow to us.  Why should we try something new that could possibly improve our lives?  We rationalize and make deals with ourselves.  We are afraid to step outside of our comfort zones.  Ever heard the phrase, “it’s better to deal with the devil you know than the devil you don’t know”?  How many of us have said this ourselves?  The truth is, we live in an abundant Universe that supports us.  Sometimes we have to trust in that to improve our circumstances.  Change is usually difficult, but we always make it through, don’t we? Yes we do.  If we could make those changes on our own, we could have more impact on the results.  Change is not bad.  As a matter of fact, it’s one of the few constants in our lives.  Change is always guaranteed, so we can choose to make the changes we would like to see without fear of the unknown.

OVERCOMING OUR FEARS

I am not going to pretend to be an expert, because quite frankly I’m not.  I am just an individual on a spiritual path trying to live a better life and help as many people as I can.  I still have some of those fears that I talked about earlier.  The key is that, I do not allow these fears to completely cripple me.  I deal with.  Thankfully, I no longer have a fear of animals.  While I still get very nervous on plane rides, I have never missed an event because of it.  While the fear of failure still remains very real to me, I continue to follow my bliss.  Through meditation and feeding my inner spirit with positive affirmations, I see myself continue to get better.  Think of fear like a big old bully.  As long as you don’t confront it, it has the potential to ruin your life and makes for a miserable existence.  The first step is identifying where your fears lie and how they are impacting your life in a negative way.  We are not meant to live in fear of any kind.  Which one of the fear patterns I’ve talked about are you seeing in your life?  It could be one that has a dominant theme, or it could be a combination of all of them.   What I want you to take away is that fear stops us from being the best that we can be.  We do not have to live with fear.  The choice is in our hands.  Through love and self-acceptance, we all have the power to overcome fear and let our light shine.  What are you afraid of?

In Light and Love

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