Fear has many forms and names. It is insidious and can permeate, manifest and mold itself into different aspects of your life. Fear causes rationalization, judgement, jealousy and overwhelm. Fear is simply a protection gone bad. It is like a runaway train that has to be stopped from outside the train and not within. The first step is to understand and arrest fear is self awareness. Recognizing the words, the patterns, the thoughts and the beliefs that perpetuate the fear. This requires a dedication to this practice – a continued recognition of the need to do this work. Fear starts off as a protection – it steps from the ancient brain where man needed to protect himself in the wild. However no one sat fear down and informed it that in this urban landscape, its services are no longer required. So as with a continually used muscle, it is now strengthened beyond belief. In order to weaken it, the only way to do it is to stop fueling it, stop exercising it and instead start to focus on another area that is belief and faith. But what happens when you start to ignore something, that area seeks attention and acts out and misbehaves even more as it vies for your attention. Your job is to soothe it, assuage it, reassure it thank it for its service and then turn your back to it and walk away, in the same way you might sleep train a child or vaccinate. It causes pain, but it is for a greater good and the benefits are palpable. Fear is no different. It needs love and firmness and more attention focused on belief and faith. The more that is strengthened, the less power fear has and it begins to get tamed. It starts to stay in its rightful place, coming out only when absolutely needed.
Mantra: I am full of belief and faith. I am fearless.
Gitanjali 