Moving Into Fearlessness

Fear is rampant today. It’s all over the newspapers, magazines, movies and every main stream media outlet loves to sell fear to us. It’s generated by TV news, weather reports, the economy, Wall Street, whether the UFO’s will land or the Second Coming will happen first. And yet…and yet, if you put your mind and heart and soul into it, is there anything at all you can do about any of these?

When we are in pain or in fear, we assume the worst of God. We resist the divine timing of Grace and limit ourselves & the power of love in our lives.

When we live in fear, we live outside of trust – that circle of thinking we are being taken care of by a Loving Creator. We choose – through long conditioning – to step out of the Light into a dark place. Why? I think it’s because we think Life is safer there. In the dark, we cannot see the size of our fears monster. And if you believe in a higher power keeping score of every little old activity & thought, it surely feels safer in the dark where we seem invisible. We push out the Light in the world. We forget the kindness of strangers.

I read a line recently that said, “his fear felt like swallowed lightning.” Do you remember fear like that?  I do. Since childhood, we may have done a lot of our formative living in a state of fear. Do you remember the first time you felt afraid?

There was Mom or Dad being lining up to yell at us about something, there was falling off the bike, there was Sister Anne Cecelia calling an algebra pop quiz first period, or the other schoolkids ganging up. Fear doesn’t lack for variety… there’s physical fear, mental fear, emotional fear, spiritual fear – take your pick. Or better yet, make the sane choice to not choose any of them!

Repeat this after me: I release the past with ease and trust the process of life.

Louise Hay says: “Fear happens inside when we don’t trust Life. We don’t have trust that we’re being cared for or taken care of on a higher level.” We try to take control of the events in our lives. The other side of control is, guess what? Fear of failure. And although there really are few things we can control, there are a number of choices we can make about feeling fear. One that could have some surprising results is simply choosing NOT to experience fear about our choices.

Trust is what we learn when we overcome our fears. Look again into your memory’s crystal ball – remember how many times you breathed deeply and took that leap of faith and connected yourself to universal Intelligence? You trust the air to be there when you breathe, no? The Power that supplies the air created the universe.

I cordially invite you to pinch yourself – do you trust that are you alive? Do you know what gives you life? There’s a really fine balance the body maintains in its chemistry, its cellular structures, its organ systems. All of these work without our knowing just exactly how. Do you trust your stomach to digest what you eat? Do you trust your ears to hear what I’m saying & relay it to your brain for processing? I trust the next cell forming in my body to know whether it’s an eyelash or a toenail. I’m not in charge of any of that, but I trust the process, and I trust that I can always improve the process.

Repeat after me: It is safe for me to live

without guarding and defending myself all the time.

When I feel afraid,

I open my heart and let the love dissolve the fear.

I was able to get over my biggest fear. My biggest fear wasn’t moving forward. It was remaining in the life I had created for myself. I didn’t want to live at the level of emotional survival. I wanted to just plain live, I wanted to experience moments of ineffable beauty, full-filling Joy, peer relationships & returned love.

If you knew me then and you asked me, I would have said my cup was half-full. But I know, now that I have more perspective, that my truth was sitting across the table from me scowling at the baldness of the lie and lighting another cigarette.

When I decided to take a do-over on my life, it took every resource on hand. It took a million lists & all the money I had in the world. It meant relying on a promise from the Social Security Administration that they’d really give me my retirement money. It took a new boss who came into the job with an attitude to sit on my head until she hatched out the administrative assistant she wanted. Unfortunately, that gal had left the building quite some time before.

It took every self-help book I’d skimmed over in the Unity bookstore, and every sermon I’d heard after five years of careful listening.

Here’s what happened: Fear had become for me the imposing curtain hiding the Wizard. I trembled at what might be behind it. That curtain was my Ego. It wasn’t until my soul, my trusty little Toto soul caught the edge of it on the run & whipped it away from Great Illusion that I was able to unveil my life, to let go of what I really didn’t even own. It wasn’t until the moment that the reality of my half-empty existence smacked me upside my head. I woke up.

I woke up to the knowledge that all my life had been a 50-50 – much like a PTA raffle. Living, dying, happy, sad – all of these were choices I made on a moment-by-moment basis. I’m so glad Toto wasn’t buying any of it! I’m so glad my soul got all up in my face and insisted I choose just how I planned to live for the rest of this life. Those bright-button eyes held a ton of trust. Who was I to disappoint?

Fear. False Evidence Appearing Real.

Fear: Face Everything & Run!

Fear: Face Everything & Rise!

Repeat after me: I live and move in a safe and secure world.

You know, we always have the opportunity to return to Love – re-turn to God as the Source of all love. Jesus called God Father; but in the Aramaic language He spoke, where one word can have up to 42 meanings, the words “father” and “mother” meant more than biology.  Father and Mother both mean “BELOVED.” Think on that: Beloved. Who best to turn our fear over to than the One Who loves us unequivocally no matter what we do? And when we turn the fear around, Jesus is the one standing closest by to lend a hand.

Repeat after me: I am now willing to see only my magnificence.

Don’t let fear get comfortable around you. Start asking it some hard questions when it shows up:

What are YOU doing here?

What do YOU have to do with anything going on right now?

What’s your real deal?

Everything you’re afraid of is subject to that 50-50 rule. Few of us lead perfect lives. If Shakespeare was right & all the world’s a stage, I gotta tell you the footlights pick up every flaw. Society loves its little game of perfection. But we don’t get to have our lives airbrushed. Heck, half the time we don’t even get to go to the groomers once a month for a shampoo & a flea-dip.  Each time we “do” fear; we lose light. And our only real purpose for being here is to bring light into being.

Speaking metaphysically, the word “fear” is used to denote reverence or respect for the law of God.  It really means “Pay Attention!” As in “pay attention, you’re standing at the edge of a cliff.” Or “pay attention, you’re crossing Coastal Highway & there’s no crosswalk here.”

Every angel who ever showed wings to a person opened the conversation with two words, and what are those words? C’mon, you know them! FEAR NOT.

Repeat after me: I am willing to release my fears.

Did you know that the word human is two parts. “Hu” is ancient word for God. It is a word people anywhere can use to address the Originator of Life.  To be Human then is to be God in Man. Not only does God have our back, God leads each of us every step along our way. It’s important to walk our talk: wherever God is, all is well. Wherever God is, fear cannot exist. Creation may be broken, but the Creator isn’t.

If you want to start with small steps, the 64 Ways in the Season for Nonviolence booklet are a great way to experience practicing some new strengths. Take your every step forward into new strength. Then look down, pay attention, and walk out of your fear. Every day is another chance to win the 50-50 – let your every forward move be a move into fearlessness.

Repeat after me: I accept myself and create peace in my mind and heart.