Befriending FearJan 1, 2022
As we awaken spiritually, our Awareness sharpens. What would have slipped by unnoticed in our unconscious past is seen more readily. We notice contractions within emotional energy, we more keenly experience fluctuations. We become more sensitively attuned to temporary departures from our center of inner balance.
We notice the arising of vibrational energy including seemingly polarized extremes such as bliss and fear. We might ripple
with joy one week only to have mysterious shudders of terror to follow the next week. We might wonder, "What is going on?
I thought I'd have only Peace if I opened to spiritual Awakening?"
Awakening affects all "bodies" comprising the human experience: mental, emotional, physical and spiritual. We might be new
to the experience of feeling fully the entire range of human emotion. We might have backlogs of suppressed negative emotional energy.
Remember the silver lining that is often discovered after going through tough times? This is no mistake nor coincidence.
This is Wisdom arising following expansion. Regardless of the "why", we can trust the Awakening process to clear obstructions and process/integrate what's needed for the expansion of consciousness.
Psychology, counseling and mental health advocacy encourage us to face fears, to use gentle exposure, habituation, familiarity and adaptation to reprogram our nervous systems' response to fearful stimuli. The way out of fear is through fear.
During Awakening, the pure Wisdom of our Transcendental nature will guide our journey through fear. Awareness may flash intuitively that we need some help, we might seek out a counselor. We might be guided to start a meditation or mindfulness practice. We may feel drawn to crystals, gemstones or aromatherapy. We may use weighted blankets for self-soothing support as we work through extreme anxiety. Some people might chant, pray aloud, practice tai chi or walking meditation.
Regardless of the outer form our practice takes, moving through fear is the inner "yes” to What Is once fear arises.
We can direct thinking mind through inner Stillness. Contemplative thought will offer questioning to our Beingness which communicates in Silence. We might discern the pattern where egoic contractions are immediately followed by extension
and growth. We feel encouraged, hopeful and courageous. The undoing of egoic beliefs is a mighty process,
one for which we are divinely prepared. The process is perfectly designed. We need not know how nor why
for thinking mind is not in control. Inherent perseverance will carry us through Awakening and deepen our Certainty
that even this tough moment is part of All That is Well.
How can we cooperate with Awakening during an experience of fear? By simply being open and willing.
The tiniest sliver of willingness is more than enough for the Power of Which We Are to move through fear.
Eckhart Tolle describes the ego as "an insubstantial phantom which cannot prevail against the power of Presence."
We can try this for ourselves the next time fear arises. Step out into nature, and sit within the fear. Be still yet alert, stay open and willing. Observe and breathe. The fear will not kill the body. The ego will scream "I can’t take this!"; be willing and open
to even this, breathe, breathe, breathe.
Watch the ego's defense system attempt to mobilize. See the arising desire to avoid, to run away.
Watch for addictive impulses and avoidance strategies to kick in (wanna spend, gotta eat, gotta drive,
gotta smoke, wanna snort, gotta drink, wanna workout, gotta leave, need to repress, wanna run and hide).
"Hold them" within Awareness without acting them out. Let them arise and just watch without judging, without indulging,
without criticizing nor interpreting, just breathe.
No matter how real thoughts and feelings appear to be, they are energy forms, subtle contractions which will explode into Awareness and then dissipate. Just allow, accept, keep breathing. Nothing has to be "done" in this moment, no decisions
need to be made in this moment, watch and wait in inner Stillness. If thinking egoic mind bombards us with thoughts just open to silent curiosity, "ah, I hear this thought, what next?" Each movement will begin, build, surge, peak, decline and dissolve.
This is psychological birth and death. "We" aren’t at risk and aren't going anywhere. Just be Present with each "thing"
which arises, an emotion, a thought, a physical sensation...look for the space around each "thing or object". Breathe.
This is Awareness-as-You, Spacious Beingness, within which thought, emotion, physical sensations arise.
Have you ever looked at a painting which concealed a hidden message? Remember how you stared at the image and waited? Once your vision shifted, you could clearly see the message that wasn't visible just minutes before.
While fear is experienced, we can refocus the mind by our asking, "where is peace right now"; "where is unconditional love right now?"; where is WellBeing right now?" Don't answer with the thinking mind, just wait and breathe. Waiting for Peace, Unconditional Love or WellBeing allows them to reveal their presence. They will come without words, for they are beyond thinking mind. They will respond with Certainty upon our invitation.
Doubtful thoughts may flood in, let them come while paying no attention to them. Keep breathing and wait patiently for Peace, Unconditional Love, WellBeing, Certainty-As-You to arise in Awareness. Awakening opposes nothing. Awakening works with all structures and systems. Psychology tells us that the emotional flooding of the fight or flight responss takes 20 minutes for adrenaline from a stress reaction to work its way through our body.
https://psychcentral.com/blog/anger/2016/06/how-long-does-the-fight-or-flight-reaction-last#1
Awakening cooperates even with this system. Keep breathing, stay vigilant, open in earnest. Fear will peak and dissolve.
It only takes one successful "sitting through" of a surge of fear to reveal the oasis-like mirage which fear represents.
Catch the glimmer of Peace, WellBeing or Unconditional Love as it begins Its flow. Awareness will see the tiny first shimmer
and we will catch it. Watch it build, expand, extend. See the gentle way which fear is surrounded and "held" without force
nor rejection. Watch as fear is met and joined, find the gap of space around the fear. Breathe deeply.
Very quickly, Certainty will be all which remains.
Thinking mind's memory can recall the prior fear but there will no longer be any emotional charge. This Awareness, Peace, Unconditional Love, WellBeing is our Being nature - within which -fear arose and dissolved. Each revisit by fear will be met
by Presence through inner Stillness. Fear's density and intensity will decrease even more quickly with the Light of Awareness “seeing through it”. Befriending fear in the Now it arises through Presence is our new normal. Suffering cannot perpetuate
in this climate of acceptance, it can only yield to the union with That Which We Are.
Fear is befriended, its energy is transformed into the expansion and extension of Who We Are. This is the power of Presence, its union with all of that which arises and its remaining as all forms dissolve. This Certainty is the transcendence of thinking or egoic mind. Our true nature, no longer clouded by dense egoic fog, is experienced deeply and directly.
With You as Awakening Unfolds