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Facing the fear |
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A Releasing Your Unlimited Creativity discussion topic | |
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Copyright 2008 by K. Ferlic, All Rights Reserved | |
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The approach to dealing with fear in the creativity perspective is to understand we cannot fear the unknown for we do not know what to fear. We can only fear the past projected into the future. Any fear we have is in some way a result of one or more past experiences. However that fact that any fear we feel is a projection of the past does not mean there are no true hazards associated with the fear or there are no true hazards in the unknown that we will face. From the creativity perspective where we hold our creativity sacred, the key is to separate the hazard from the fear and deal with each separately. Although this is hard to do for many, it is usually the easiest way. In doing so, we can also come to understand some fears do not really arise as a result of the hazard but rather, the result of something else like some type and kind of betrayal or lack of trust as a result of some experience. For example an individual is a afraid of heights. However, the experience they had where they developed the fear involved being pushed in this or some other existence. Hence, there is an issue of trust embedded in the fear as opposed to the hazard. Relative to facing hazards in the unknown, our mind can always conceive the possibility of something in the unknown that will harm us. Part of concern is fear of pain and stumbling into something painful. That other part of the concern is that it seems that almost anything humans do will involve a hazard of one form or another so it is only natural to expect having to face a hazard of some form or anther in the unknown. Although both of these concerns are true, if we listen to our fears well will be captured in the illusion of mind projected into the future because we really don’t know what we will face. However, if we understand the gift of pain, become mindful and aware of what we are experiencing, are willing to look to address the true hazard in our fear, and look to the lessons learned of others, we can go a tremendously long way in removing or effectively addressing hazards we may face and/or what could cause us to experience pain. Nevertheless, to be totally honest, there is always something totally new and unforseen that can present itself in the unknown.. But we cannot allow the projection of our fear stop us. Otherwise we will become immobilized. Generically addressing the fear of pain The first thing that needs to be said about pain is that pain is unique to us. Our pain can never be experienced by another even if the other experiences the same type and kind of injury. In this regard, how we effectively learn to address pain will be unique to us. We may use an approach similar to another but in the end, exactly how we do will be unique to us. So, in this regard, we need to learn how to manage our pain in our own way. The experience of pain is what gives rise to the fear of pain. Removal of the possibility of experiencing pain will remove the need to fear pain. However, even if we remove the possibility of experiencing pain, having once experienced pain, especially tremendous pain in a creative endeavor, we tend to think we will experience it in someway in the future. It is aspect of the fear of pain can be quite difficult to overcome and is a ghost of the past which continually haunts us.. If we fear the pain and avoiding it and never allow it to arise or denying its existence, the fear begins to control our life and we bind ourselves within the attachments we have to the forms that we have created in the past. Hence we continually give our creative power away to external conditions rather than facing the origins of our fears and our pain and we become more and more bound to particular created forms of existence. Of the biggest paradoxes of the fear of pain is that in fearing pain and trying to avoid it, we never learn to use to prevent more serious episodes of pain. Pain ultimately arises from a threshold being exceed. Often we hold on to things which must be let go. Fear of pain keeps us from avoiding the indicators - the initially low threshold sensations and/or discomforts. The low threshold sensations and/or discomforts are telling us where we are holding on to something which needs to be released and/or where we are beginning to pass some threshold. It is the information within the pain, the awareness which lies in feeling, that tells us where to look and release. If we fear the pain and never learn to use it and look into its origins, we never find the freedom from it. The sad thing is that, that which many of us fear most, pain, is that which is ultimately the most freeing - if it is understood for that gift that it is. It tells us were and how to avoid the pain that is developing for one reason or another. Also, if we are afraid of pain, we will never become aware because we will never learn the aware which lies in pain. But we do not necessarily need to cause ourselves pain to learn how to us it. Probably the best way to over come this ghost of the past is to understand the gift in pain and do a sufficient number of hazards reviews where we begin to see we can create condition where pain is minimized if not eliminated. In looking at the gift in pain, we will begin to see it as a ally and friend such that every time it arises it is brining us information about something to which we would otherwise not be aware. Our creative spirit incarnated to have a certain set of experiences. It will lead us to those experiences if our creative spirit is free to do so. The recommendation in dealing with our fear is to ask our intuitive guidance what is the best way to process to free our creative spirit from the influence of the fear so as to create the experiences we incarnated to have. Then proceed as lead by the our intuitive guidance. We can also ask to be lead in the fastest, easiest and gentlest way possible. Addressing the true hazard What ever fear we have or fear of pain we perceive, it is recommended a hazards analysis done on the real hazard within the fear. In understanding the hazard, we can take action to mitigate the hazard or institute compensatory measures. If the hazards are adequately address, then the issue we face is what we think and believe that is sustaining the fear. If addressing the true hazard does not alleviate the fear, that fear is arises from some arrangement in how and what we think and believe and is really a creation of the illusion of mind. Of course, getting past such fear is easier said than done. Here we may find body memories are at play and we may need to do some type and kind of body work to release the fear. Addressing the fear itself Exactly what we will need to do to face our fear is unique to us and to the experiences we have had. All that can be provided here are some generic thoughts as to how to get past the fears we have. Within the creativity perspective there is no single answer to addressing any one fear in any one individual. We all experience the experience we have in a totally unique way. As such, whenever we do will be unique to us and our fear. There may be common aspects and lessons learned of other that may be helpful. Nevertheless, what any one individual faces relative to any one fear they face will be unique to them. The recommendation is us to use whomever we feel can help, whatever techniques and lessons learned from others we think are useful but we need to look to our intuitive guidance the feeling of expansion of our own being to be our ultimate guide. We can feel freedom and we will know when we are free of any fear we have. We can feel it. We only need our own freedom to guide us through any fear. To deal with a fear to access and release our unlimited creativity, we will need to face the fear at its source. However, we cannot deal with it only in an intellectual way. We must process the energy held within the memory to allow the energy to freely flow within our being and dissipate. It is much the way we would break a log jam or ice jam on a river. Exactly what that would look like varies from individual to individual and according to the exact fear they had and its cause. One may need only to consciously remember the experience. Others may need to tell their story about the fear. Still others may need to act on the fear in a literal, simulated or figurative way. We need to remember fear consumes an enormous part of our creative life energy. We need to remember the process with which we are working. Energy and consciousness are one and the same. Reality molds itself to what we believe and we both create our experiences and create our reality by what we believe. This does not necessarily mean we will get what we believe. Rather, our beliefs integrate into a belief structure and any one belief and the passion and energy we put into that belief may or may not have sufficient energy to get through the weave of our beliefs to manifest as an actual physical experience. It is much like putting a rocket into orbit. We need sufficient fuel and thrust to overcome the pull of gravity. So too with what we believe. We need sufficient fuel and thrust to over come the interweave of the belief we desire to manifest and all the other beliefs that we hold. One particular reason we do not manifest what we desire is that because of our fears we don’t have sufficient freedom to play and go into the experiences required to create what we desire. It is like taking off in a rocket and find we don’t like the feel of the ride because we begin to fear so we abort the mission. We are then puzzled at why we can’t get into orbit. So as we create the experiences to manifest what we desire, for what ever reason, fear being a big one, we do not allow ourselves to go into those experiences. Any focus of our attention and awareness expends our energy. To worry or think about a fear, we expand enormous amounts of energy on something that does not exist for a fear is of the past and not the present. However, because we focus our energy on the fear, and because we create by how and what we think, we are pumping enormous amounts of energy into creating exactly what we don’t want. Interestingly, rather than manifesting an experience of what we fear and what we worry about, because our emotions are so mixed on the object of our focus, we usually channel this energy into unwanted experiences creating stress and stress related illness or difficulties. It is much like taking off in a rocket with an enormous amount of fuel and a broken navigation system. We fly around randomly and not going anywhere in particular and then crashing into a mountain wondering why we crashed. This is true for any of our overwhelming concern about outcomes we may carry. In today’s world we are almost preoccupied with results, and this preoccupation can create anxiety, fear and unhappiness because things are not as we would like. In our typical worrying fashion, we place our mental attention in thinking about all the things that could go wrong without doing anything about them. It is a tremendous waste of energy to think about something going wrong and never moving in to do something constructively about it. The recommendation made here about working with any fear is to use our intuitive guidance, body wisdom and the feeling of freedom and fullness of being to guide us into what must be done. They are up to the task and perfectly capable of guiding us through the dissipation of the energy within the fear. We only needs to set a clear intention to remove the fear as an obstacle to whatever it is we wish to create. Our intuitive guidance will provide us with either a step or segment at a time or it may provide us with the entire process at once. Getting started In starting the process, we will need to look at the fear. All we need to do is to go inside ourselves as we would in a meditation. Close the eyes and take a few deep breaths to relax. Using the image of our choice, describe the fear and let it dissolve. If our fear is an obstacle facing us like a wall, let the wall dissolve. If it is postured to attack like a dragon, transmute it into a puppy or a kitten. Then without the judgment, criticism, guilt or other imposition of our mind, examine what underlies the fear. First understand what the fear is or rather what is giving rise to this fear. Here rather than pulling the string asking "Why this fear?" we look at "how" and "what" and allow our intuitive guidance to surface a response or lead us to an answer. For example, ‘How is this fear working to rob me of me of my creative power"" or "What exactly is this fear all about?" Try and focus on "how" and "what" questions rather than "why." Why tends to put us into our mind and what mind thinks. Pulling the string as to why is not the most appropriate approach on a fear. Although it could get us to the root of the fear, because it is a fear we can be easily distracted by an endless number of offshoot questions that only divert our attention. Our goal here is to access our intuitive guidance about the fear, not what our mind thinks about the fear. Asking soft, non demanding, inquiry questions with the "how’s" and "what’s" is more appropriate. For example, ask our intuitive guidance the following types of questions. "From what am I protecting myself such that is was necessary to create this fear?" "Show me the source of the fear or what does the source of this fear look like?" "How do I heal from the injury which gave rise to this fear and what do I need to do for any injury caused by this fear? How do I become whole again?". In any case, we need to try not to dwell on what the fear is. Focus instead on what truly concerns us. We need to remember, we create by what we think. Worry adds energy to what we worry about and is a needless expenditure of energy. In addition, worrying will simply tire us. We cause our fear to grow and take on an even greater role in our life. Eventually it can even divert us from a whole aspect of life and/or our being. A worry or a fear held with emotion will be energized. That energy will need to be dealt with at a later time when we try and remove the fear. Focus on what concerns us and discern why we are concerned and what is the real hazard in the fear, if any. Some fears are only illusion with no real hazard. To not energize our fear, we must always remember to listen to our intuitive guidance and feel the freedom of living without the control of mind and all the judgments, opinions, concerns and "hold back with reservations." Move to live in that spontaneous and innocent childlike play. Move to explore our fears in that play. Once we know the fear and understand its source, we can then deal with the risk within that fear. We can take another look at the real hazard at the source of the fear and again do a hazards review. We do a hazard review on each of the hazards or concerns and/or look at the worse case scenarios for that fear. Based on what we see, we can establish compensatory measure. In doing so, we can change or rename the hazard and/or change the worse case scenario to something that is acceptable. Finally, love is a powerful transformer. A deep love will dissolve any fear. We cannot be afraid when we are in love and/or acting out of love. Love transcends the barriers. When we love we are focused on nourishing the true needs of the creation and our mind is too occupied to fear. If our reason for dealing with the fear, or we have a desire to create where fear is an obstacle, is based on a deep love for another with little ego goals, our fears will readily be overcome one way or another. It is surprising how our fears are overcome when we love deeply and act in that love. If we love deep enough and the purpose is magnanimous enough, fears become irrelevant for we will do whatever we have to do. The easiest way to overcome a fear is to truly love something such that the fear in question stands in the way of achieving an experience of that love. Discussion path in dealing with fear The previous step Current step The next step
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