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Dealing with fear
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A Releasing Your Unlimited Creativity discussion topic | |
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Copyright 2008 by K. Ferlic, All Rights Reserved | |
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Dealing with fear No single discussion or even a book could hopefully deal with all facets and aspects of fear and how to effectively deal with fear. However, any discussion on creativity would be remiss if this topic were not included. Any creative endeavor causes all obstacles to achieving the desired intention will rise in opposition. Our fears are some of the typical obstacles that arise to manifesting our intentions. It is from this aspect that fears are discussed here - fear as an obstacle to achieving a particular desired intention Our interest is to understand how fear impedes our progress in accessing our creative ability and creative power. The goal is to live the life we desire or manifest our desires, rather than the enculturated life that we were lead to believe was the appropriate life for us. Ideally, relative to our creative endeavors, we would become creatively fearless. Of course, that is much easier said than done. But it can nevertheless be achieved. What is provides are some thoughts, ways and lessons learned that have been helpful in moving around or through the variety of fears which can arise. The model for fear used here and in the creativity perspective is that derived from the equivalence of energy consciousness and that we are an individualized aspect of the consciousness within, or behind, Creation and the need for us to hold our creativity sacred to access the depth and breadth of our inherent creativity. (More on a model for understanding the influences of fear in our creativity) In many ways the discussion of fear provided here can be said to be rather unsympathetic, cold, simplistic and shallow. It could be said to play down the difficulty and trauma associated with many fears and the difficulty individuals face in overcoming them. In many ways this assessment is very true. However it is appropriate to note the following summation of one individual’s observation about fear. It is an observation which reflects what the author learned at a very early age in life about fear and how we need to creatively deal with fear. "If we are to make a shift in what has become our daily routine, we must address, look at and then go through our fears face to face! In our last session (referring to a gathering of a particular group of individuals as in a salon) we discussed how we some times let our fears stop us when we set to accomplish our dreams. However, what is needed is to "feel the fear and do it any way." It is through jumping in to the unknown that we get to accomplish anything substantial in/with our lives! While fear is a survival mechanism that has brought us forth through the ages, it is coming from the past experiences and "failures" of the past, not from the excitement of the unknown, the future. Why then is it so hard to confront and go through fears? How can we make it easier? What happens when we do go through them and break the mold? What does it feel like?" All that would be added to this statement is to a hazards review on the fear to address any real hazard that may exist before stepping through the fear. The reason for this view is that ultimately, from a creativity perspective, we will come to see we cannot fear the unknown we face in a creative endeavor and they are of our own making. We have is no option other than walking into each and every fear that stands in the way of manifesting our intention. Otherwise we will thwart our own creative efforts. We will need to either give up the fear or give up the intention we hold. The choice is ultimately ours. However, if our intention comes from (1) the desire to align with and live the intention for our life and the way our creative spirit wants to live and/or (2) the need for our creative spirit to grow to awaken, then we will, at one time or another, this life or the next, find it necessary to walk into our fear. It is fear that keeps us bound in the form in which we find ourselves and on the proverbial wheel of karma. If we are to recreate ourselves and our life and/or transcend our current form the fears must be overcome. From the perspective of being a human being and our enculturated ego, we make assessments and judgments about what is good and not good, pleasurable and painful, and what is the purpose of our life and what we need to do in and with our life. From the view beyond duality, beyond good and evil, beyond the view that we are separate that can be achieved as detached witness, we find that there is neither good nor evil and all orchestrates in oneness for an experience of Creation. In becoming aware of this face, we can awaken our consciousness and, if we so choose, return to an experiences of consciousness of oneness with the All That Is. It is in this latter view of the detached witness that we see the fears and the obstacles to our intentions are only the vehicles used by conscious to provide us the opportunities to have an experience of Creation and/or develop and strengthen our will to become a conscious creator. That is, to have the strength of will and awareness so that we can hold any intention that we so choose and know with unwavering faith that our intention will be fulfilled and manifest as we have intended. It is to know in the conscious setting of intention and manifesting that intention that we truly become a conscious co-creator of the shared reality we experience as Physical Creation and that we are both creator of our experiences and the creator of the reality we experience. What is provided here is about how to work our fear within ourselves. Although what is provided here can be provided as advice to another, the discussion, "Working with the fear of another" is the recommended approach. In any creative endeavor, we will have to face both the unknown and some type of sacrifice internally or externally if not both. Facing both the unknown and a sacrifice can causes many fears to arise. Whether or not there is a real hazard or hazards to be faced is another question. Relative to any fears that arise, it can be said the true hazards of the situation as compared to our fears and the hazards we believe exist in our fears are camels of a different safari. That is, the fear and the hazard may look the same but they are carrying us in different directions much the two safaris go in different directions. If we focus on the fear rather than the true hazard that is present we will not get to where we want to go. The hazards within any particular creative endeavor is only related in form to our fears as two camels in different safaris are related in form. The may look the same and act the same but they are taking us in quite different directions. What it means to face the fear of the unknown is to face a fear of the past and to let go of what needs to leave our life. That is a very different journey than dealing with the hazard that may lie along the path of our creative endeavor. Yet, both journeys may need to be taken if the fear of the past is not allowing us to look at the true hazards of a creative endeavor. It needs to be clearly understood, fears come from within. As such, there is no greater enemy than one’s own fears. We cannot run away from them and we cannot escape them. They are always with us. They go were we go. Unless we face them and somehow overcome them, they will always be with us in some way. If a fear arises in a creative endeavor and the fear is not overcome, it will continue to block the intention that we have set. Most importantly, if we try to live the intention for our life and/or follow our passion, but we cannot act on what we see because we have an insufficient or unbalanced self-esteem and lack the internal strength of will and courage to act and face our fears, we enter what can be described in no other way than a creative madness. It is only in acting on what we know to be true that we will ultimately restore our sense of balance to ourselves. Although those around us may not understand why we need to take the action that we do, only we can determine what is true for us and in alignment with our creative passion and what is symbolized in our heart - our creative spirit. In the eyes of the world we may look crazy, and in some cases, based on their standards, we may be judged crazy,. Butt if we don’t act we will feel crazy in not living what we know to be our truth. In looking at our fear, our journey is a solo journey and no one can take it for us. Although it is a solo journey, at times it is best not done alone and the universe will provide the assistance that is needed. Normally everything we need will be provided exactly when and how we need it if we can step past our fear. More often than not our fears are what keeps us from taking the opportunities the Universe provides. We may have a multitude of excuses. But in the end, it is our fear. Sometimes, however, it is necessary to ask for assistance. Sometimes we have to ask for no other reason than to allow our enculturated ego to recognize there is a part of us and a part of reality that transcends the world of the enculturated ego. That is, creation/Creation is not done alone and we another or others to give us the experiences we desire to have. Our enculturated ego sees the world revolving around its needs and wants. It thinks it can do all. Although we ultimately do create a reality that revolves around us and we are the creator of our experiences, creation/Creation is not done alone and this is especially true for the experience in a shared creation as Physical Creation. Additionally, it is the needs and desires of the combined intentions of our current mind and its ego and our transcendental mind which gave rise to what we desire in life. It is the intention for our life that create an experience as a human being in Physical Creation, not the enculturated ego of the current mind. The creative madness we can experiences comes when this realization about the intention for our life begins to be seen and we are not yet capable of living the life our creative spirit wants us to live. When this occurs, our heart pulls us in one way and our fears another. It is our fear that prevents us from recreating ourselves and living the life desired by our creative spirit, thus causing a madness that can be experienced as a verity of ways. More often than not, it is experiences as a pain, anxiety, depression about life, an inner longing or some other discomfort. Normally, rather then explore the gift in the pain or discomfort we feel we seek to numb, suppresses, or find an external remedy for the pain rather than looking at the root as to why we experience the discomfort with life that we do. In this regard, fear sustains the illusion as to who we think we are rather than claiming our birthright and true identity The need for understanding (Top) Throughout history, as humanity developed an understanding of how the universe functioned, more and more of its fears began to vanish. Of course, new fears arose. But, in general, humanity has learned it can address the hazard in any fear and over come the fear. In its understanding, humanity found that its fears were either actually non-existent or could be addressed if appropriate actions were taken through a hazards analysis and implementing appropriate mitigation techniques or compensatory measures. So to it is with the fears we face. The fears that arise at times seem insurmountable. But if they are faced and the fear becomes understood, they either frequently vanish or actions can be taken to address the true hazard and allow one to transcend or overcome the fear. In many ways dealing with fear is not unlike stepping up and walking close to an edge of a cliff. Yes, there is the fear that one can fall off the cliff and the fear is based on a real hazard that could cause the injury one suspects could happen. However, if we tie ourselves to become securely anchored, then we can stand at the edge and even lean over the edge with no fear of falling. Facing one’s fear does in no way negate the need for aids or assistance and wisdom in how to address the fear. It doesn’t matter how we address the fear. The issue is, the fear must be faced and overcome or it will thwart our creative endeavor. It is in understanding the fear that it can be overcome. However, it does need to be noted, the aids and assistance are exactly that, only aids and assistance. A railing could be just as effectively used as a rope at the edge of the cliff. The rope will not always be the solution, as a railing will also not always work. The aids and assistance of themselves do not overcome the fear. It is only the individual facing the fear, stepping into the fear and understanding the fear and what needs to be done that allows one to ultimately overcome it. We may take the advice of another and do what another has suggested and, in fact, we may be able to seemingly transcend the fear. But if the fear is not understood and the individual providing the advice is no longer available to advise on how to address the fear in a new situation, that fear continues to render us bound and limited. It is only in understanding the fear that we can remove the fear from it ever being an impediment to our growth again. In understanding the nature of fear relative to our creative endeavors, fear must be understood for what it represents. Fear represents some way or another of us not walking our talk and speaking our truth as a result of some past experience. In not being able to speak and live our truth, we are prevented from having our creative life energy freely flowing through us, through all of our being to create what we desire. In essence the fear robs us of our creative power and creative ability to act as necessary. In those areas where there is significant reduction in flow in our creative life energy, we may be unable to sustain life and we can ultimately create illness and disease in our physical bodies for our physical bodies and the world we experience is our consciousness manifested. As we can come to see, these restrictions in flow are formed by us through holding beliefs which created limiting thought patterns. That is, we put our creativity in a cage of our own making by how and what we think and believe. As such, we need to learn to keep a clear focus of who and what we are and how and what we think and believe. Additionally, we need to hold a perspective that hold our creativity sacred and allows us to step into the infinity of our being. The first step in obtaining this clarity to overcoming fear is to learn to know and understand the needs and wants of our heart to be able to live authentically our truth and what we believe and know is true. In knowing our heart and using the lessons learned by others to understand the nature of our journey, we can begin to release our fears and begin to access the our inherent creativity. In accessing our inherent creativity we can acquire that which truly belongs to us in all manner of form: in our thoughts, words, deeds, actions and the things we possess and experience. In being and living our truth, we can come to see fear for exactly what it really is, a vehicle for us to strength our will and or resolve to manifest exactly what we intend. Dealing with fear, in part, is about understanding fear and the origins of fear. What needs to be understood and emphasized is that we cannot fear the unknown. There is no fear in a truly creative endeavor. A truly creative endeavor takes us into the unknown and that which has not been previously experienced. Since the unknown is unknown, we don’t know what we should fear. We only fear the past. There may be hazards but no fear. Fears come from within, not from anything external to us. Dealing with fear can be straight forward or become extremely convoluted. In general, it is straight forward if we can remember what happened that give rise to the fear. However, often we cannot remember and find the memory of the experience which gave rise to the fear. It may lie in a buried and deeply suppressed experience in our current life or, as if often the case, it may lie in our transcendental mind. Then again, the issue may not be any particular fear but we continually project our the idea of fear into the our future and become fearful of the future. However, whatever fear arise relative to a creative endeavor, we can be assured that whatever the memory which gives rise to the fear that memory is bind the free flow of our creative life energy which we need for our creative endeavor. Otherwise it would have never surfaced. The issue is generally not to address fear or fears in the generic sense. The issue is to address the fear that arises and when they arise. There are two concepts with which many people are probably not familiar that can be of great assistance in working with fears and limitations especially if we stumble into the Dark Night of the Soul discussed below. The concepts are Tunneling and Portaging. Although the concepts are very different, both provide a faster, easier if not gentler way to move past our limitations. Tunneling has to deal with moving through barriers that are seemingly otherwise insurmountable. Portaging deals with helping another carry their burden while having some time to heal. Understanding these concepts provide two of the methods that make the phoenix process of transforming ourselves and having to burn off our attachments and fears much gentler that it otherwise would have to have been. Additional discussion on each is found in the topics "Tunneling": and "Portaging." Dealing with fear and the Dark Night of the Soul (Top) The Dark Night of the Soul is a concept and term that comes from the mystical literature. It refers to the transition and experiences associated with the process of moving from living the reality of our enculturated mind to another reality where we create a personal relationship with the Divine and the creator/Creator as we come to understand the creator/Creator to function as a willing vehicle for the Divine or a as channel of the light. That is, we surrender our ego and life to become enlightened as to how to lead a life lead by the Divine in whatever form we experience the Divine. The Dark Night of the Soul is a metaphoric description of how the stripping away process is experienced. A related phenomenon, called the Kundalini Rising describes the euphoric experience we have after the stripping away process is completed and we become that vehicle for the Divine. The Dark Night of the Soul is introduced in this discussion on dealing with fear because it is possible that surfacing and/or facing our fears can take us into an aspect of the Dark Night of the Soul or into a deeper inner journey that parallels the traditional mystical journey towards enlightenment. The reason for this is often the path we take inward to get at the root of our fear is also the path we take inward to get at the root as to how we construct our ego. As such, it is very easy to see, and a quite common occurrence, that the journey to address a fear turns into a deeper mystical journey into enlightenment and/or as to how we create our experiences and the mystical journey to obtain a deeper relationship with the Divine ends us only addressing some fears that have kept us bound in life. Additional information on the Dark Night of the Soul is found in the topic, "Kundalini Rising and the Dark Night of the Soul," Exactly what we need to face and how to deal with what we need to face is unique to each of us. Although there are lessons learned and a variety of approaches used by others, we still must find our own path. The approach provided here is to provides a series of hyperlinked sequential discussion to understand fear and its origins, become aware of the types and kinds of fears we may encounter, surface fears and facing the fears to find security without fear and a place of fearlessness. In addition to this approach, there is a listing of topics which deal with or address fear available in the password protect area if a particular discussions is desired or one wishes to create their own approach to what is provided in the sequential hyperlinked discussion. Discussion path in dealing with fear Current step The next step Future steps
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