Fear is a potent emotion that can either inspire you to go beyond its crippling effects or stop you dead in your tracks, leaving you filled with a sense of overwhelming impending doom over the mere contemplation of all the potentially unimaginable things that could go wrong.
As what we focus on expands, the energy of fear can quickly plummet your vibration into a downward spiral, lowering your frequency and keeping you in a perpetual state of inaction. This post will explore the mindful practice of vibrating higher to do what scares the shit out of you.
The Crippling Effects of Fear
At any given time, we’re liable to feel the energy of fear rise up, infiltrating every space of our being with a level of discomfort that rivals an impending sense of doom. The very thought of coming face to face with the object of our fears sends our mental and physical nervous systems into a tailspin, as our body’s flight or fight response leaves us feeling so consumed and overwhelmed that it overwhelms our physical being.
The only things I regret, and the only things I’ll ever regret, are things I didn’t do. In the end, that’s what we mourn. The paths we didn’t take. The people we didn’t touch.” – Scott Spencer
There’s something freeing about doing the things that once scared you shitless. Only how does one use mindfulness to overcome the fear of doing new things.
Whether starting a business, shifting careers, new relationships, public speaking, or any innumerable stuff that tends to spark fear beyond the occasional inherent fear, we are sure to encounter it to some degree. However, this intensity of fear can sometimes rival the things that scare us to the core of our being. Understandably, this degree of fear keeps us up at night, where we concoct the absolute worst that could happen in our mind’s eye, rattling off every potentially unfavorable outcome that we could think of, putting us in a low vibration. If we use a moment to dissect the word, we could interpret F.E.A.R. in one of two ways: view it as face everything and run or false evidence appearing real. Since perception is reality, most perceive the energy of fear as an absolute truth that should be feared and avoided.
Much like the two perspectives on fear, we each have the intuitive power to respond as we see fit selectively. Only many of us become enslaved to the wayward, unpredictable patterns of reactivity that have been impressed upon us since early childhood.
From the moment we entered into this human incarnation (aka the moment we were born), the ways of our family, society, environment, and the world have been impressed upon us. In fact, for the first seven years of our life, we are figuratively mental sponges, observing and soaking up every morsel of action, behavior, and activity that comes across the path of our awareness.
Subconscious Programming
When we were young, we instinctually patterned our habits and actions to mirror those closest to us (parental figures). If and when we were exposed to any largely unpopular societal viewpoints and perspectives, as well as any offensive words, phrases (aka profanity), or any other imaginable word that is marred as politically incorrect, we were sure to repeat them word for word.
Children can mimic those closest to them in speech and activity, putting the sentiments spoken in private about select individuals on public display for those same people to hear the offensive things that were said in private. If you’re anything like myself, you likely have a memory in which you did just that.
Whether one has experienced a delightful upbringing or something that bordered along the lines of toxicity, there’s no way one would ever want to be anything remotely like their parental figure(s). Far too often, many end up walking in the same footsteps as those who came before them, replaying the same habit patterns responsible for causing them relentless emotional pain and discomfort.
Thanks to unconscious programming and conditioning, these impressions have the propensity to inherently become so deeply entrenched within our subconscious that they form paradigms (a collection of habits and beliefs) that regulate us to take on the patterns of our closest parental figures (aka this is how habits are passed down from generation to generation).
Good, bad, or indifferent, this is why it has long been said that we all become our parents at some point or another. Depending on your experience, this could be either good or not-so-good. Notably, the subconscious mind observes and absorbs every bit of information that passes through our physical senses without restraint.
Likewise, the subconscious mind operates according to universal law. It solely responds according to frequency, whereas you get precisely what you put in. In other words, plant seeds (thoughts) of fear, lack, and limitation, and it will be reflected (i.e., reciprocity). Hence, you reap what you sow.
Regardless of intent, it aligns with your predominant frequency. Like a recording device without a pause or edit feature to selectively filter and parse out the bad or the most damaging toxic traits, the subconscious mind perpetually takes everything in without discrimination (the subconscious mind has no filter or discernment for what features and habits you either want to keep or release)
The Conscious Power of Choice
Interestingly, we can consciously filter what passes through our awareness in the later developmental stages. In time, this programming becomes so much a part of us that it practically becomes us. Sometimes, it lies dormant until we experience select triggers that prompt us to react in response to a stimulus. Interestingly, reactivity is the subconscious reaction that is automatically (aka without conscious thought) triggered by deeply engrained conditioned habits.
Depending on the trigger, one is liable to react in various ways. Whether you have the propensity to fly off the handle and lose your shit or scream to the top of your lungs at the slightest annoyance, reactivity can run the gamut, from a minor inconvenience to a full-on toxic meltdown filled with profanity.
When we allow our subconscious programming to rule the roost, we relinquish our conscious power to choose a well-thought-out response. In other words, reactivity is rooted within the old past paradigm (aka early childhood programming). Much like the Progressive Insurance commercials that chronicle the practical steps to increase your awareness of when you subconsciously fall into habits and behaviors that rival that of your parental figures so that you can not become your parents, we each thankfully have the power to make a conscious choice to reclaim our ability to respond as we see fit selectively.
Overcoming Fear with Mindfulness
Practically everywhere we look, something is bound to arise to make us feel the variably increasing energy of fear that makes us afraid, leading us to question our worthiness. Thoughts that radiate the energy of fear instantaneously impact our vibration, often shifting our predominant frequency into a downward spiral. Putting us into a low vibration, which single-handedly leads us from one fear-based thought to another and another until our mood has dramatically shifted, placing us into a victim mentality.
At the same time, we become victims of the substance of our thoughts. In these instances, our attention becomes singularly focused on the absolute worst that can happen, amplifying the object of our fears and making it that much harder to shift.
Understandably when one is in a cycle of fear, it can quickly feel as if there is no way out. Where your energy goes, your attention flows, as energy cannot be destroyed, only transmuted into different forms. Therefore the only way to shift the power of fear is to shift it into a higher vibration.
Pause and Breathe
Anytime you encounter something that scares the sh** of you, take a moment to pause, and take a few deep breaths. When we get caught up in the rapid-fire flow of fearful thoughts, our minds and physical bodies go into reactive mode, shifting our being into a flight or fight response.
Regardless of whether the perceived threat is theoretical (living solely in our heads with a low probability of manifesting), our physical nervous systems don’t know the difference. Likewise, our bodies prepare us by immediately thrusting us into flight or fight mode (aka preparing us for battle) by releasing adrenaline and shifting blood flow away from vital brain centers to the vital essential organs and extremities: all the while, the blood flow shifts affecting our ability to think clearly.
In other words, the longer we stay in a flight or fight mode, the less likely we are to engage in clear, concise thought. So, pausing and taking a few deep, cleansing breaths disrupts fearful thought patterns.
Fix Your Attention on Your Desired Intent
Introduce new practices outside the familiar, and one will encounter fear. The widely held notion that the only way to combat fear is fearlessness is a misconception. This collective belief is unrealistic because fear is a natural response to disbelief in your ability to actualize your intention.
The key is not to avoid, deny or repress it, but to overcome it, by redirecting your attention back to your intended focus. In other words, remember what inspired you on this path in the first place.
Shift Your Focus
Anytime you find yourself caught up in negative fear-based thinking, it’s easy to feel that it’s far too burdensome to overcome. However, everything happens as you believe. Therefore if you shift your belief, you change your outcome.
Thankfully, as spiritual beings having a human incarnation, we have the innate inner power to think outside circumstances. Similarly, you can concoct every possible scenario that plays out your worst fears and just as easily entertain the probability of actualizing your desires.
In other words, you can redirect your energy by entertaining an entirely different possibility. Instead of asking what things could go wrong if I fail or entertain the notion of not being good enough to achieve your intended outcome, change your thoughts.
Shift it to what if I soar and reap the unlimited rewards far better than anything I could ever imagine. This change redirects the flow and frequency of your thoughts into an upward trajectory, exchanging fear for expectancy.
Practice Gratitude
Gratitude practice is a tool that cultivates an abundance mindset that transcends belief in lack, limitation, and fear-based thinking. This fosters a belief in the abundance of whatever you seek.
Be it love, money, financial wealth, or happiness, giving thanks in advance by feeling the energy already here now aligns you with the law of attraction, supporting you to raise your vibration to overcome fear and actualize your intentions.
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