Why is fear so present in our lives? Why do we live in a society perpetuated by fear? Is it really necessary or even helpful towards our human evolution?
Fear is very present in our society today, not only through the corporate control of jobs (income) and the financial credit/debt system but also through the educational systems and cultural expectations. Fear has been socially engineered widely throughout our societal systems with the objective of keeping individuals in a contracted state of awareness as opposed to an empowered mindset of abundance. Fear has poisoned the minds of the majority of the population by stopping men and women from following and living their ‘true potential’ as healthy functioning human beings.
“Living in accordance with other peoples expectations and cultural opinions is one of the biggest socially engineered fear traps. A trap that only exists because the individual is fearful of judgment, criticism and rejection and seeks love, respect and approval from the outside, all at the expense of their authenticity, inner authority and personal power. The trap is that of not living an authentic life.”
Today, some of the most common fears amongst us are the fear of failure, poverty, illness, loneliness, judgment, the list is endless. And often this fear is exaggerated due to the individual choosing to keep their focus and attention upon their fear of something instead of working towards making positive decisions to dissolve the fear.
Thousands of years ago our survival instinct developed the feeling of fear in order to protect us from dangerous situations, threatening animals and from being attacked. Fear served as a very useful tool to keep us safe and help us evolve as human beings. However that is no longer the case today. Humans and society have completely changed and we must acknowledge that beyond fear exists our ‘human potential’.
A construct of the mind
Usually, unless we are in imminent danger of our life, fear is a construct of the mind. It is not real. It is a ‘state of mind’. Fear can control us and block us from responding positively to life if we feed it. Fear has power over us when we feed it by focusing our attention upon it; otherwise fear actually has little power over us. But imagine the fear of being ’stuck or trapped’ in a life you don’t want, living to please others? A life that perhaps has been determined by others opinions and wants instead of manifesting and bringing forward your own needs, priorities and dreams?
Fear is often destructive and the cause of many arguments, conflicts and wars. It holds us back by engendering false limitations. Limitations often influenced or set by other people’s opinions or by society as a whole. Saying ‘you can’t do that’ or ‘that’s not possible’. Creating false barriers to justify or deny that they are simply afraid of the unknown. These limiting beliefs allow fear to stop you from making choices and decisions that deep inside you know you should make. Decisions based upon your intuition and inner authority that you want to make. All because you decide to listen to and accept other people’s fear or opinion as your reality and your truth – which is simply not true!
Fear leads to illness
Fear is a toxic low frequency energy. Beginning in the mind often through doubt and indecision that then leads to anxiety and if not apprehended, depression, paranoia and possible harmful behaviors. Like all disharmonious energy, the fear energy reaches the physical layer of the body, where these fears, anxieties and obsessions manifest as diseases such as cancer, heart disease, diabetes and obesity to name but a few. Health professionals now acknowledge that unresolved emotional issues, pain and trauma have a direct correlation with and negative impact upon the physical body, and mental/emotional health. This is something that Chinese Medicine and Ayurvedic Medicine realized thousands of years ago- that a positive strong mental attitude gives rise to and supports a healthy strong body and immune system.
Fear literally consumes our precious life force (Prana/Chi) and reduces our ability to achieve a healthy, happy and lasting harmonious life with ourselves and others. Your life force is your power, your vitality! Visualize this: each day we wake up with 100% of our life force in place. But immediately when we wake up, we start thinking of past and future fears (avoiding the present moment), thinking of dramas in our lives while sabotaging our decisions and allowing other people’s opinions and expectations to overrule us. We unconsciously give away large amounts of our present day energy on these negative thoughts and entanglements, leaving us with very little energy to operate with during the day. This is partly why we feel tired, inert, lazy, isolated and disconnected. We have lost our life force, our vitality and power. This is fatal. Once the life force energy is depleted and we have little to no vitality left, we begin eating into our physical layer as a source of energy. That in turn leads to malfunction of our internal organs such as the kidney and adrenal glands and the weakening of our immune system and body.
Self-Responsibility
People get stuck in fear because the individual continues to feed and focus upon fear. Ultimately we must take self-responsibility for the direction of our lives. It is important to become mindful of our thoughts, emotions and actions we maintain in our daily life. To become aware of the negative thoughts and behaviors patterns that are detrimental to our life and begin to understand the source and the solution. No one else can do this work for us. Only we can initiate such a powerful transformation. Others can support us in this process but ultimately we must want to stop feeding negative thoughts, complaining, blaming, lying, gossiping, cheating, manipulating.
Once an individual truly realizes they can drop fear instantly, like a heavy bag, then they can transform their life by changing their focus and attention towards making more truthful and empowering choices in their life. No one will remove the fear from your mind, only you can do this. It is very important to pinpoint what you are fearful of. Expose it, share it, talk about it with someone or with a group you trust. Start to be more aware of your daily thoughts and when the thought of fear arises, question it. Ask, how real is it? What specifically am i afraid of? Then move your attention to something more constructive and positive, for example the solution. If you choose to follow your fears, this will actually cause more harm and bring you further away from your authenticity and truth. Choosing to stand up and face your fear is very empowering and builds up your strength, courage, self-esteem and self-confidence. This is the beginning of moving towards personal transformation, Personal Power and Spiritual Maturity.
“Think big then begin with small steps that will move you forward towards the lifestyle you want. This is self responsibility! Fear will stop you taking action if you let it. This is your power of choice. The power to take ownership of your life. That power is in your hands only!”
Internal Guidance
Fear is a big reason why people don’t listen to their intuition, fear of the unknown, even though deep inside they know it’s the right thing to do. They have an inner voice or feeling saying do this, do that. That’s their intuition, their inner authority guiding them, and yet they choose to sabotage and ignore their intuition only to have regret later. When you are living from being guided from within, by your intuition and personal power then the outside world and fear of what others think has no power or control over you. Of course, we all have to pay bills but that doesn’t stop you investing in yourself, paying attention to your needs and priorities (physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual), and investing your time in quality healthy relationships. Allowing yourself to be surrounded by quality people that respect and love you as you are. Learning to be mindful present and starting to think about the life you actually want is a good place to start.
“Enjoy the journey and try not to worry too much about the details of “how I will make it”. Learn to be detached from the outcome by practicing patience and an open abundance mindset.”
Next steps
Begin to let go of wanting to control external situations such as people and events in your life that you have no control of. Start to focus on what you do have control of, your thoughts, decisions and actions. Develop trust in yourself and your internal guidance system (intuition). Once you make that leap of faith of letting the universe (god, higher power) into your life through your intuition, you will not want to go back. Life becomes more magical, mysterious and more peaceful because we realize that ‘the how’ is predominantly out of our hands. Have clear honorable motivations and intentions and then take steps day by day towards your goals. Trust in yourself and your intuition and ask for professional guidance and support when you need it.
The secret to create the lifestyle you want begins with mastering your thoughts, emotions and behavior. You are not only allowing yourself to develop your inner authority and personal power but you are also manifesting abundance and wisdom into your life.
Written by Susana Norte
Susana Norte is a fully qualified Spiritual Counselor and a Practitioner of Holistic Therapies accredited by the Complimentary Medical Association (CMA) in the UK. Susana is also a fully qualified Nutritional Therapist and a Detox & Clinic Weight Lost Specialist accredited by both the International Institute for Complementary Therapies in Australia and the organization for Continuing Professional Development (CPD) in the UK. Susana delivers courses on Personal Development and Nutrition Detox in several cities in Asia. Susana spent almost 20 year living and working in London where she developed a successful career in business and Leadership. Originally from Portugal, Susana lives in Chiang Mai, Thailand and she is the Co Founder of Sacred Place.