Archive for April 22nd, 2013
Fear
“Fear: an unpleasant often strong emotion caused by expectation or awareness of danger” Merriam-Webster (2004).
Body sensations of fear serve to warn us away from physical danger. So to, the emotional sensations of fear; and we often experience them simultaneously.
It is the ‘expectation’ of fear that is my focus this week. All of us entertain the big fears: health; money; food; shelter; work; relationship and death. We also spend valuable time and energy worrying about little fears: how we look; being accepted; doing well at everything; saying the perfect words; and being judged.
In Smile at Fear, Chogyam Trungpa says, “Fear is nervousness; fear is anxiety; fear is a sense of inadequacy, a feeling that we may not be able to deal with the challenges of everyday life at all.” He invites us to study our fear. Where is it coming from? How is it manifesting? To become fearless we must understand our fear.
Spirituality & Health/May-June 2011 published ‘Five Insights For Fearless Living’ by Jeff Golliher from his work, Moving Through Fear: Cultivating the 7 Spiritual Instincts for a Fearless Life (March 2011).
One: Don’t empower fear; Two: Challenge and move through our deepest fear to find freedom; Three: Cultivate and strengthen our spirit; Four: Mastering one fear will loosen the power of all the others; Five: “Two questions – ‘How can we move through our fear?’ and ‘How can we become who we are meant to be?’ – are, for all practical purposes, one and the same.”
Fear, like other emotions, comes and goes as it pleases. Overcoming fear is work; a process, not an event. Becoming fearless is an exceedingly worthwhile practice.