FEAR OF FEAR

(Click for Blog Post on Pros and Cons of Fear)

This morning it seems to be coming up to write about Fear.  Upon waking there was a great fear of being cold, of everyone in the building leaving and not being able to afford the electric to provide the heat, it was freezing.  This fear of cold continues to come up, and it has been shared that the only way to face fear is to face it, in the willingness to face it something appeared.  What appeared was that there was not cold in the moment that the fear was arising.  There was only a fear of cold, yet the body was actually sweating from the hot water bottle that I slept with.  This obviousness, of there not actually being cold, was overlooked because of the fear “thoughts” about being cold.  And “thoughts” breed/feed other “thoughts” because many stories about being cold appeared, but none of them were actually happening and this is where the Gift appeared.  There was not actual “Fear” because actual “Fear” shows up when something is actually happening…like you are being attacked by a mountain lion or being chased by someone, then actual fear will arise to help you in the situation, but what arose this morning was not actual “Fear” it was fear of Fear (one step removed from actual fear and therefore, not real).

There is a saying “There is nothing to fear but fear itself.”  And that can be overlooked because thoughts can seem very real…like they are actually happening or will happen.  So it takes a great deal of honesty to look around you and see that it isn’t happening.  Take any thought of fear that comes up at any time, whether it is fear of losing a job or a relationship or friendship or that you can’t afford something or whatever the fear is that appears before you and then take an honest look around you, is the fear actual (is it right in front of you) or is it imagined (about the past or the future).  Do you have everything you need (not want but need) to be in the moment you are in?  If the fear is about the past, then it is not in your present moment so it cannot be real, and if it is about the future, then it is not in your present moment and cannot be real. 

What is in your present moment?  Just look around … right here right now, I am in the kitchen, where it is warm the walls have recently been painted and look clean and pretty, Pete my dog is sleeping on the floor snoring away and these hands are typing what is being seen, that is all that is actually going on so any thoughts outside of that, are lies, they are not happening.

Another way of quickly facing the fear that comes, especially when it is something more direct and not so easy to disprove, like say it is a fear that you are not good enough.  Admitting that you do not know if you are, is one of the quickest ways that fear disappears, not that you don't know if you are and trying to find a way to get better or be worse, but to not know and be willing to find out, not through trying to find out, but by waiting to see how life plays out.  Saying Yes, I may be the worst or I may be the best, but I don't truly know (then be willing to find out ... allow Life show you who you Are).

Fear of fear can drain one of their energy and place them in a state of panic and worry and discontent.  All these things will quickly dissipate with the honest look at what is actually happening and not what is imagined to be happening.  Check it out … the next time fear shows up for you … don’t move/react … face it honestly.  :o)

Fear of Fear is learned, a thought of the past or future and is therefore, not real.  Actual fear is instinctual, primal and appears in the present moment to protect the body for survival.