Fear ruins people’s lives. It can poison your dreams, terrorize your imagination, imprison you from doing things you want to experience, strangle your heart from opening, drown your creativity, blind you to the truth, and cripple you moving forward. Does any of this sound familiar?
Let’s talk about fear and what you can do about it.
Fear is the product of the ego-mind. The ego’s job is to keep you safe. The over-functioning of the ego causes you to find reasons to be afraid in all kinds of false places. You can fear: rejection, being seen, being hurt, breaking away from the familiar and exploring the unknown. Actually the list of possible fears is monstrous but it all can be defiantly rejected. The bottom line is that fear is vapor-ware.
Vaporize the Vapers
Feel fear in your body. Sense the tightening and constriction that occurs. Then take a mental step backwards and notice what thought(s) generated this fear. With the awareness of fear happening and what thinking is generating it, you can move immediately into the possibility of changing your thoughts.
Acknowledge that you are feeling fearful. The simple act of acknowledging it begins to change it, dampen it, and shrink it. Feelings are like waves that rise and fall. If you say to yourself that you are experiencing fear and can do so with compassion, you can turn the emotional wave into a calm sea.
Look to see how the ego is generating the fear response. If you are afraid the ego-mind is in charge. If you instead put the ego aside and listen instead to your higher nature, that fear can no longer fool you. The voice of your higher mind will guide you to a fearless perspective.
Set a plan to move past the fear. Planning is powerful because planning can only take place in the now. In the now fear has absolutely no power. Fear is about the past or future and it disappears in the present moment.
Open your heart and breathe into it. Feel love, compassion, kindness or caring. Love and fear cannot be felt in the same moment. If you are afraid, focus on what you love. It could be as simple as a dear friend, a special place, or a favorite taste.
Step past the fear and do what you want to do. Your bravery of moving past fear can make your life feel heroic. You can grow more courageous and confident the more you face your fears and do things anyway.
Appreciate your efforts. Appreciate yourself for taking on the challenges of life in bold and triumphant ways. Being grateful for the victories of life grows your capacities to create even more of what you want.
Move forward now. Never again let fear stop who you are or get in the way of what you want. Life is too short to be compromised by false emotions acting real (fear).
Peace and Love, Jim
The Daily Buddha – Support The Server
