Facing Fear
May 03, 2022
I woke up yesterday morning and I was afraid. Not a bone-chilling fear like the one you might have in a well-designed haunted house, but an almost calm, gentle fear that secretly oozes through space and time and sneaks up on you when you least expect it. Pervading your inner being and affecting you in ways you do not even realize.
Do you know that fear? Do you live with it? It is often the fear of the unknown. The unfamiliar. Or even just the thought of delving into the unknown, holding you back from taking that first small step.
I have made a few dramatic life changes recently and though I like to think of myself as not adverse to change, I think that the rapidity of the changes finally caught up with me.
Fear can be many things at once - upsetting, heavy, dark or spine-tingling. It can hold us back from pursuing our dreams, taking a new step toward a different, more fulling life, or it can even be inspiring in some situations, spurring us toward the future or away from a situation or relationship that is no longer serving us.
However, yesterday, I found it unsettling and causing a barrage of emotions.
And inside I kept hearing a voice tell me to focus on my inner light. Focus on who I am becoming. Focus on the journey down the path and not at the end of the road.
So, I took a walk – a long walk - and just breathed nature in deeply, exploring the emotions as they came. Allowing the feelings to be what they were and not judging them. And most of all not judging me for having them.
Was I going to allow fear to make decisions for me? Was I going to allow fear to settle in my heart and stop me from pursuing my purpose?
I was not.
My walk became a deep walking meditation that cleared my senses and stiffened my spine. And allowing myself that space to simply accept the intensity of my emotions, naturally calmed them.
Fear is not a “bad” emotion. It simply is. Fear can serve us well when there is real danger, but our brains don’t always know the difference between danger and perceived danger. Our response to that fear will dictate if we stumble over it and stop along our chosen path, or simply sidestep it, learning what we can from the experience and moving through it to the other side.
