What if everything you ever thought about fear wasn’t true?
What if fear isn’t about keeping us safe? The mind will tell us stories about “what could happen if….” “Remember what happened when?” But in either case are those stories what’s happening now?
What if fear is an invitation? That feels better already. Being invited somewhere feels good!
Fear is an emotion inviting you to connect deeper to yourself in the now. An invitation to become present. An invitation into awareness. By our own human design and instinct when we are alarmed, we immediately take a snapshot of right now! If a lion jumped right in the middle of your room right now, would you sit down and immediately begin to worry about what could happen? Chances are no. You Instinctively would assess and do what you needed to do to stay alive.
For most of us being chased by a lion isn’t an everyday or even once in a lifetime occurrence. So, let’s look at fear in a more everyday way.
When we don’t heed the invitation of fear it gets louder. It pushes us further into the future adding a zillion “what if” scenarios. It also reaches deeper into our past and attaches stories of what are mind remembers of past hurt. This is how we can say fear keeps us paralyzed, stuck, and repeating old patterns. The truth is it isn’t fear that keeps us stuck, it is the belief of what fear is. If we switch back to believing fear is an invitation and receive that invitation to become present, then there are no stories of future or past. If we connect to the here and now and flow with what “IS” we are in a brand-new place. It’s impossible to be stuck in old situations or repeating patterns.
I remember last fall finding myself on a country backroad in Eastern Montana the day after an unexpected winter storm. Of course, my navigation did not indicate in any way that this was the road less traveled! Just when I thought things were looking up, I dropped down into a small town where they were digging out of waist deep snow. I asked a local if the road I had just passed was the right one to get me to the next highway. He said it was and asked “was the gate across the road open when you drove by? If it’s opened the road is open.” He also warned me that it could be rough out there. “Bad part is you’ll drive for about an hour before you’ll know if it’s too icy or not to make it” I turned back, drove through the open gate, and started along the way. The more I drove the more scared I became. I had never in my life felt so alone and afraid. There was absolutely no one on the road. There was no cell service. The sky was blue with a blanket of white clouds that touched the snow-covered horizon. I couldn’t tell where the earth ended, and the sky began. I had a moment of “this is beautiful” and then boom! My mind engaged fully. I fell into deep worry and anxiety. “I’m hundreds of miles from anyplace I would call home, I am alone, no one knows where I am. What if I break down? “And on and on. My thoughts took me far into the future of “what ifs” and ultimately terrified me. My thoughts also simultaneously took me back to the past and shamed me, “what in the hell were you thinking taking this trip!?” I was a wreck and started to cry. My thoughts had overtaken me, my chest tightened, I cried harder, I pressed the gas petal further to the floor. As the stories intensified so did the risk of something bad actually happening. I wasn’t ok.
Then something in me heard the invitation of fear to become present. I slowed down, started to breathe, put my hand on my heart and looked around. “what’s happening right now? Am I safe right now?” I slowly made my way out of my head and into my heart. I started answering my questions from a place of right now. When my mind tried to give me “what ifs” I’d say “but is that happening now? No”.
I kept breathing deep and questioning my thoughts over and over. I called in my guides, angels, ancestors, and God. “Please show me a sign I am not alone” and kept talking. I was eventually able to weave enough present moments together to feel calmer. When the surrender to what was happened, my eyes became very clear. It was as if someone turned on a bright light in a dark room. I looked around through my teary eyes and what was once terrifying to me was beautiful. The landscape was heavenly, like nothing I have ever seen before. The feeling that accompanied was something I’ll never forget. A place of surrender, faith, and presence. The lens of presence, free of my mind, truly led me to heaven on earth.
Moments after my full surrender I slowed and took this photo of two wild horses. I then looked up and a Sheriff appeared in front of me, turned around and followed me to the main road. An Angel escort and Horse Spirit Guide (represents Freedom).
