We all have fears, don’t we? No matter how much we try to ignore or deny them, they are there.
I like to tell myself that I don’t fear but have faith instead. But, as I learned in my first hand anaylsis session, my Life Lesson is ‘Emotional Authenticity.’ So I’m being authentic here – I have fears.
Do you?
What are you really afraid of? For many of us in these times, it is a fear of being without money. Why have we joined together in this collective fear that money is the root of all life? Or maybe we have a fear of dying? But is dying really the worst that could happen? Of course, we don’t want to die but lots of people have done it and their spirit lives on. If we live our life around the concept of ‘not dying’ we don’t live authentically. We would never cross the street, or eat sushi, or shake hands with someone who might be carryi ng germs, or have a child or any other number of things that ‘might’ lead to death. And yet we do all those things, some even choosing to do more extreme activities carrying a high degree of risk of death, and we live or we don’t live. So is fear of dying really at the root of our deep fears?
Do you know how often we choose to do or to not do something because we have a fear of looking silly or stupid or of being embarrassed? And haven’t we all lived through some embarrassing moment? I experienced this recently when I sat in line with hundreds of other cars waiting for the Whidbey Island ferry near Seattle. When it was my turn to board the ferry, my car wouldn’t start! Cars were having to move past me on both sides, someone came running to direct traffic, someone else came with a portable battery to jump start my car, and then it died again. This time they brought out the big cart to jump start my car and I had to drive it around [I, of course, missed the next ferry] to charge up my battery and then demonstrate that I could turn the engine off and restart the car on my own. All this was happening on my way to the airport to meet my husband’s plane! I was on a schedule, I was experiencing car trouble in a very public way, inconveniencing others, and I was embarrassed.
But, I had choices about how to respond. I could have collapsed in shame and sat in my car and cried. I could have become angry and stomped around as if it were someone else’s fault. I could have thrown up my hands and walked away from the car [not that they would have let me do that!]. I could have driven away and decided not to take the ferry that day [and left my poor husband at the airport!]. All fear of being embarrassed, however, left when I decided to smile at the people who helped me, laugh at the situation, and do the best I could. I drove around and recharged my battery, demonstrated that it would start on its own, and made the next ferry with plenty of time to meet my husband’s plane.
For some reason, I surmised, I wasn’t supposed to be on that particular ferry or on the freeway a half-hour earlier or whatever. I may never know the reason I wasn’t supposed to make that ferry but my car, which had never given me a problem before and hasn’t since, needed to be the carrier of wisdom for me. And after that very publicly embarrassing moment, I know I don’t need to worry about public embarrassment causing me to die!
So if all fear is really a fear of a lack of connection to Source, then maybe the way to address any fear is to start by connecting back to Source Energy, the Universe, God/Goddess, Spirit. I learned from my little ferry experience that people were helpful, generous, smiling and sympathetic. Would I have had an opportunity to learn this without my experience? Maybe not.
The basic truth, that we are all connected, to each other and to Source, means that everything that happens to us is within the context of our lessons on Earth. Every fear is a teacher. Let’s all help each other learn the lessons. Let’s remember that we are all connected. And let’s help others remember this!
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I’m off The Road, and home but just for the rest of this week!
Mystic Messages 
BOOK LIGHTS: from “The Camino: A Journey of the Spirit” by Shirley MacLaine
October 27, 2011 — Rosemary“Then I remembered what a great teacher had told me about fear: ‘Never ask yourself what it is you fear — instead, ask yourself what it is that concerns you. A fear thought, put out, will return, because all energy returns to the sender. Any energy always makes a loop until it regains the source. A concern thought will return also. At that moment discern why you’re concerned.’”
Shirley MacLaine
The message from most traditions is to go within to gain spiritual understanding of what is happening. Spiral up above the problems. Seek guidance from within. Learn to live your Life Purpose so that you create a context for the lessons of your life. [And I highly recommend reading Shirley MacLaine’s book about her trek across Spain and the spiritual journey that it represents.]