The Gift of Fear

“…Unwarranted fear or worry will always be based upon something in your imagination or your memory.”
― Gavin de Becker
 
Has fear shown up in your life recently? Do you have fears, birthed in the past, that recur triggered by events in your life?
 
As uncomfortable as it can be, this kind of fear is a gift, because it can show you the door to understanding. The key to opening that door is to ask for understanding and guidance about why fear is showing up at this time in your life. Ask to be told what you need to know. Ask to be shown the gift of this fear.
 
For me, fear manifested recently as my husband attended a convention in Wichita for five days. I’ve shared before that his leaving has often triggered old abandonment fears in me. I know these are old fears and yet somehow the inner dialog comes up with current reasons to feel anxious. Reasons that are quite compelling. Be that as it may, I support myself, using the tools, nurturing myself, and I get through it. Some times better than others.
 
This time I chose to do that and add in a different approach. I asked for support from my Spiritual Support Team. I asked to be told what I needed to know. I asked to be shown the gift of understanding behind this door of fear. Here's what I learned.
 
Fear is created by wounded thinking. Wounded thinking is created by negative interpretations of past experiences.
 
Fear makes mountains out of molehills.
 
When you are anxious everything looks worse than it is. Yet, understanding the fear, accepting the fear, feeling compassion for that part of yourself that is afraid, shines the light of love upon the fear and shrinks that mountain back down into a molehill.
 
Seeing your fear as a gift reorients your thinking. Your perspective shifts from fear to love. You feel yourself relaxing about your fear and letting it be what it is. You say to yourself, “There I go again. Oh well. I wonder where the gift is?”

The gift my fear brought me was to remind me that shining the light of God upon the darkness of abandonment dispels it.  I am never abandoned or alone. I am companioned and supported in Spirit.  Love dissolves fear. 

When you shine the light of love upon fear, fear no longer has power over you. It has fulfilled its purpose and dissolves away.
 
Now that’s a gift.

Photo by Plush Design Studio on Unsplash
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Your Spiritual Toolbox

Here’s what you can do when you experience fear.
 
Be compassionate with yourself as you allow yourself to feel the fear rather than trying to close it out. Give yourself some quiet space just to feel.
 
Where you are right now is a gift even if it doesn’t feel like one. Now let’s unwrap it.
 
In your quiet space, ask your Spiritual Support Team, “What gift does this fear bring me?”
 
Ask your Spiritual Support Team, “Please tell me what I need to know to heal this within me.” The generality of this question allows Spirit to tell you anything you might need to know, including ideas you may not have thought to ask about.
 
Trust that the answers will come - images in your mind’s eye, a message from a friend, a new idea that pops into your mind, a song on the radio, a book title that catches your eye, a dream, an unusual sight that attracts your attention - these are just some of the ways that Spirit communicates.
 
Stay open. Have an attitude of wide-eyed wonder and you will be amazed at how Spirit moves in your life.