hidden fears
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our Light, not our Darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you NOT to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightening about shrinking so that other people won’t feel unsure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone. As we let our own Light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others. - Marianne Williamson
Some very interesting things have started happening to me lately - things that have proven to me that we have way more influence over what happens than we think, or even want to believe. Some good things are starting to come my way, things that I can see on the horizon, and some that are not so distant. And yet, seeing them come my way, even though I want them, I am frightened. Scared that I could actually have the things I want, rather than just daydreaming about them, or telling myself that someday I’ll start working towards getting them. It’s not an intellectual fear, it’s more that deep down in your bones, adrenaline pumping kind of fear that impairs your ability to think and makes you run as fast you can, looking over your shoulder to see if it’s gaining on you kind of fear.
I draw an analogy to a movie I saw earlier this year to illustrate: the Wedding Date. Towards the end, the heroine’s father sits down and talks to her and tells here that everyone has the type of love life they want, whatever it may be. But it goes far beyond a love life. It applies to everything in life. We all have the type of lives we want, in all areas of our lives. It is we who decide what our lives will be like, and it scares most people senseless, at least it does me.The answer to it, at least for me, is to let go of the fear. A lot has been written about letting go of fear, and anger, and all kinds of negative emotions. In my case, I’m learning how to do it through studying jujitsu. The way out of techniques in our art is by learning to go with it, as sensei says, to go with the flow and allow ourselves to take the fall so that we can get up again unhurt. It’s also about learning to go forward, because the way out of most techniques is by learning to go in the direction of the technique, which is really about going with the flow also.
As with anything, the answer is much simpler to talk about than it is to do sometimes. The next question usually asked is, how do you learn to go with it? And the answer to that is equally simple, intellectually: learn to live in the moment, don’t look to the future or the past. It is only by being aware and living in the present that we can course correct and learn from the mistakes of the past without being bound by them and rightly affect where we go in the future.
Here’s to letting go of fear.