Have you ever felt the urge to reinvent yourself? What was once a source of excitement, inspiration, or aliveness has now evolved into boredom, monotony, and stagnation.
Or what began as a quiet, gentle whisper periodically inviting you to consider the possibility of something new is now a resounding voice persistently calling you to make a change.
Maybe it’s an urge that inspires you not just to make a small, minuscule change but a significant change that could drastically upend life as you know it. Understandably, everything about it scares the sh** of you. Naturally, you have done practically everything imaginable to silence it, only for it to resurface, reigniting a sense of urgency.
This post offers four ways to use mindfulness to combat the fear of the unknown, making your dreams a reality.
Everyone loves the comfy, familiar feel and reliability of a “comfort zone.” Being in a“comfort zone” fosters a sense of familiarity that you can’t get when you venture into something new. Most of us recoil at the thought of completely stepping outside our comfort zone. Notably, discomfort, unpredictability, and unfamiliarity all accompany change.
Anytime you set out to step into something new, you open yourself up to the uncertainty of change. No matter how much you recoil at entering a state of discomfort, it is essential for change. Practically everyone welcomes all the potential good on the other side of change. However, no one wants to bask in the discomfort of blindly stepping into the unknown for something that may or may not work in their favor. Because of this, many forgo their dreams out of fear of all that could go wrong.
It is widely known that fear accompanies the unknown. So much so our thoughts often gravitate towards preparing ourselves for the worst-case scenario. The problem is the more we focus on the very worst that could happen, the more likely we are to go into a downward spiral, eliciting even more fear, apprehension, and uncertainty.
Unfortunately, the more we imagine, the worse the more likely we are to avoid the unknown. Thankfully, we all have the power of choice where we can either consciously accept to invite more of the same into our life or remain faithful to the vision of the wish fulfilled. In other words, we must see beyond what we currently observe with our physical senses and remain faithful to the vision of what could be.
Take a moment to step back into a time when you were terrified to step into something new and different. Perhaps it was deciding to break up or leave a job you hated. At its best, it was comfortable and familiar. So much so it had a level of predictability where you could do it with your eyes closed. Only you despised everything about it that made you feel comfortable. Although the thought of entering something new and different scared the everlasting sh** out of you, you knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that it had to be done.
Apprehensively, you blindly stepped into something new despite the fear that threatened to keep you in a state of stagnation. The very thing you once feared immensely evolved into one of the best things that could’ve happened to you. So, as you recoil from resting in the fear of the unknown, remember that growth exists on the other side of your comfort zone.
In life, some things bring us joy and those that cause us heartache, pain, and discomfort. If given the option, no one would willingly subject themselves to any emotional or physical discomfort. However, that is different from how life works. Anytime you seek to invite something new into your experience, there will be some degree of fear and apprehension.
The greater the distance between where you currently are and where you desire to be, the more fear you will experience. Unlike physical pain, you can’t just avoid touching what physically brings you discomfort.
Thankfully, everything is impermanent, meaning that nothing stays the same. Essentially, the more you lean into something that causes discomfort, the less it will be an issue. Similarly, what makes you grimace in the face of discomfort can easily be your new comfort zone in a few weeks to months. Hindsight is 20/20. Whenever you need a gentle reminder of the impermanence of fear, reflect back to a time when what you have now was a distant dream that seemed right outside your reach.
Unmasking the Mystery: Mindfulness Techniques for Embracing the Unknown
1. Pause and Breathe
Whenever you find yourself in a downward spiral of thoughts that have you reveling in the worst possible things that could happen, please take a moment to pause and breathe for as much time as it takes to disrupt the cycle of low vibrational thoughts.
The pause lets you observe what is occurring moment-by-moment, and the breath enables you to extract your attention from the future and onto the present moment.
2. Revisit your Intention
Whenever we find ourselves caught up in the flow of emotions that emerge out of fear, it can cause us to lose sight of the very intention that inspired us to venture out in the first place. Revisiting our intention supports us in reconnecting ourselves with our why.
3. Shift your Approach
Practicing mindfulness pushes us to unlearn much of what we have been taught. As a collective, most of us tend to subvert our attention to the absolute worst-case scenario. Interestingly, where your attention goes, your energy flows, meaning focusing on the negative draws in more of the same. So, shifting your approach from the worst to the vast possibilities beyond the discomfort helps you manifest it.
4. Lean into Grace
Habit patterns are forged over time, meaning you cannot change engrained habits overnight. In other words, learning and adopting new practices takes time. You may cycle through these steps and find that you must go through the process's discomfort repetitively. Regardless of how long it takes, be gracious with yourself. Everything new will cause discomfort, so have grace and go easy on yourself.
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I highly recommend mindfulness. I wrote my own book "Mindfulness for Beginners" to help anyone get started with it. I self published it to Amazon, it's very reasonably priced. Also available as an Audiobook.