“Perfect love casts out fear. If fear exists, then there is not perfect love.” This quote from A Course in Miracles, speaks to its central concept of there only being two things, love and fear. Everything is either love or fear. Sounds interesting and thought provoking, but it may not make total sense; at least it didn’t to me. Then I started looking at my interactions and actions and started realizing the love or fear beneath them. When someone says something that bothers me, I can usually trace it back to feeling unworthy or a fear of not being good enough. The other day, I was feeling particularly down with life and frustrated with my insurance company for troubles in getting the medicine that my son, who has Type 1 Diabetes, needs. I was waiting in line at the pharmacy to ask questions, this was probably my 4th trip to the pharmacy to try to get what my son needed. Another person was at the counter talking to a pharmacy technician. She started yelling at me that I was standing too close and was listening to her private conversation. I apologized and assured her that I wasn’t listening and moved back right away. I was in my own mind as usual and really couldn’t even comprehend her issues, but I started blaming myself and then felt defensive. I know it was fear of not being good enough, that I had done something wrong and had messed up, that was in action there. A similar feeling was also probably in action for the other person. I’m grateful that I could realize what was going on; because I was so worn-out I might have ended up in tears instead. I love this quote from Georgia O’Keefe, “I’ve been absolutely terrified every moment of my life and I’ve never let it keep me from doing a single thing that I wanted to do.” I wonder if this is how most people feel? It makes me feel better to know that other people have fear battles too. And this quote, from Jack Canfield, “Everything you want is on the other side of fear,” has helped me through many moments. So, we know there is plenty of fear out there, and probably for most people. Now what can we do to bust through it? There are lots of ideas out there. Here are 5 of my favorites that resonate with me. I think it goes with the Goldilocks principle, you have to find what is right for you. Sometimes, some things work better at different times in your life or in varied situations, so it is good to have some tools to choose from. See Fear Differently Just being willing to see something differently can make a huge impact. I have learned to look at fear as a teacher to learn from and one that is trying to protect me. I talk to my fear and say, thank you for trying to protect me. But, I am trying something new now, unconditional love. Then take a deep breath and keep going forward. Ask for Help Asking for help may seem simple and obvious, but here it is asking for help from whatever you see as a higher power. It may be God, it may be the universe, it may be your own inner light. Asking for support invites guidance in and opens you up to receive it. Release Fear Physically Fear can reside in our physical bodies as tension and stresses our systems. Close your eyes and seek where you can feel the fear. For me, it is almost always in my lower gut. Then clench that area of your body for a few seconds and release it. We are simulating releasing fear. You can also clench and release other parts of your body to help rebalance you. Drop the Oars This concept comes from the spiritual teacher, The Abrahams. I see dropping the oars as dropping control. Letting go of your resistance and going with the flow. When I feel fear creeping in, I am aware and realize that I am trying to control the situation and I will probably be much happier and more at peace, if I let go. So, I picture myself in a large boat trying to steer it with my small paddle. I drop the oar, right in the water. Sometimes, when my mind keeps returning to the same fear place, I see myself stand up, muster all of my strength and throw the oar as far as I can. Listen to Some Healing Tones I must tell you that I don’t totally understand this one, but it has helped me many times over. It is music that uses frequencies combined with brainwave songs to give you relief. The one I love the most right now is 432 hz and is said to me a miracle tone and raise positive vibrations. I can attest that it gives me gorgeous peace! The frequency of 396 hz is supposed to be good for liberation of fear and guilt. Talk to My Scaredy Self This is one of my favorites lately. I talk myself through it. I know this will sound weird to some, but from time to time I call myself, Scaredy Kim. This is how that talk-through can play out. “Here we are again, my Scaredy Kim, the little girl who works so hard to prove that she is worthy. Thank you for all of your work and trying to protect me. I am new now. I’m willing to do things differently. Let’s go play in the fun. We’ll go together and we’ll choose love instead. ” I take her small hand and I open the door to bright sunlight and clear sounds of laughter and joy. She looks up at me and I know she wants to go, although she is clinging tightly. Together we take the step out into the sun. I hope this serves you and helps you release fear and find relief!
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Have you ever asked for a sign to help point you in the right direction? If so, you probably believe that sign will help bring you happiness? And you have an understanding on how asking for a sign is supposed to work. But, if you haven’t then here is a little run-down for you. Basically, you ask to be shown a symbol that you have defined as meaning something. For example, I have used seeing wild dolphins swimming as a sign confirming that I am on the right track for my personal and business goals. I see them occasionally on my morning walk on the shores of Old Tampa Bay, but it has probably only happened about 6 or 7 times in the 23 years I have lived here. To me, this seems like a strong sign, because it doesn’t happen very often. My aunt used a sign to decide if she should endure chemo treatments after fighting breast cancer. She told my uncle, while they were on their usual walk, that if the blue heron that they sometimes saw was there on their walk that day, then that would be the sign to say no to chemo. If the heron wasn’t there, she would have chemo. The blue heron was there that day, she did not have the chemo treatments, and her cancer did not return. Sometimes, signs can be confusing or take forever. I have waited months for signs sometimes. Looking back, I wonder if that was too long and if I should have changed course. But, at the time, it seemed just fine to me. I didn’t mind waiting and I didn’t put a time limit on it. I was clear and patient. I was moving in the direction that I clearly wanted to. Lately I have been ruminating on my career choices and how they fit into my life and my purpose. I got pretty specific with my signs.
Right off the bat, there were days and days of rain. This brought many puddles and along with it raindrops slowly dripping from the huge oak trees in my yard into the puddles, creating many ripples. I thought OK, there’s the sign, but I remembered that I had included another part to this sign. I would need to start making some good money to be able to sustain my business (I’m not talking huge money, but probably $1000-$2000 in the next month or so.) Of course, I had been working on several things along the way, not just waiting for the signs. I was gathering information and taking steps that made good, calm, clear sense to me. In my heart, I had been leaning towards returning to teaching, for many reasons. But, while writing this on the plane back from a family funeral, I realized that I didn’t think I had seen a Monarch butterfly, my sign for returning to teaching. Within a minute, the lady next to me on the plane, turned the page of her magazine and there was a big Monarch butterfly. I think it may have winked at me;). My memory promptly reminded me that on my way to a teaching job fair, I thought to myself that I would like a sign, but I didn’t want to rely on it. I wanted to make good, clear, calm decisions for myself, so I didn’t really need a sign. As I turned on the radio, I thought maybe a song would be a sign. But, I had no idea what song would mean anything to me. It would have to be something with a big impact. The first song that came on was “Shut Up and Dance” by Walk the Moon. This is a fun song that I had used for 2 years in a row, because I liked it so much, in my beginning of the year video for all of my classes. It seemed like a great sign to return to my old school. But, quickly I forgot about it as I went into the job fair and had two great interviews and enjoyed hearing about an awesome new school! Then my memory showed me yet another sign. On the way to my son’s weekend long football tournament, I was weary of trying to decide what I wanted and I thought to myself, it would be awesome if someone at the tournament would just offer me a good job that I would like and would fit me. I smiled to myself and I didn’t really think it would happen. I’m sure you can guess roughly what happened…in the first few minutes of setting up for the tournament, in walked two friends of mine from my old school. One of their sons was a freshman, now playing on our junior varsity team. She gave me some insight into a couple of possibilities and encouraged me to come home to my old school. That made 3 signs pointing in that direction. But…I remember back to a year ago when I was first embarking on a new journey. I had signs that pointed in the direction that I wanted to go. On one day, there were more dolphins swimming along the shore than I had ever seen and they stayed nearby for a long while. I was sure this was a sign that I was going in the right direction. Looking back now, I wonder if we ask for signs of things that we really want and then our brains scan the environment searching for those signs. They pop-out just like if your friend gets a new car and then suddenly you see that same model of car all over the place. My theory is that we are asking for confirmation of what we truly want. We see the signs and we keep going in the direction of what we truly want. It is like flipping a coin to help you make a decision and then checking in to see how you feel about the coin flip winner. If you are happy with it you keep it, if not you switch, so in reality you are just figuring out what you really want. There is a scientific concept called confirmation bias, which is when people would like a specific concept to be true and so they kind of convince themselves it is true. This bias leads people to stop gathering facts when the evidence so far confirms their hopes. This sounds very similar to asking for signs to me. But, I maintain that if asking for a sign helps us move toward what we truly want then it is just as esteemed as a super sign from the universe or from God. Taking action on a goal can be incredibly valuable and lead to immense happiness for having tried. Now, I am wondering if perhaps, God doesn’t really care which way we go, he only wants us to be happy, and he loves and supports us unconditionally, so it doesn’t actually matter which way we go. All of the choices could bring us happiness. As for me and my decisions, I intend to make decisions out of clarity and calm while honoring myself. I’m not positive which way I will go, but I fully believe in the words of David Lee Murphy and Kenny Chesney that “everything’s gonna be alright” in the end. God loves us unconditionally, there’s no need to stress or worry. P.S. Writing this, I notice that I am writing as much to help myself, as to help anyone else. This is usually the case. Thank you for participating in my healing and I hope that it serves you as well. |
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August 2018
AuthorI was a school teacher for 20 years and am a lifetime soul learner. I am still a teacher, just a different curriculum. |