fear less
Plucked out of the static I had adapted and grown to accept as a normal part of life, I spent half of the year 2019 in India, marinating in a vat of rhythmic, disciplined observation and study; sequestered away from the world as I had known it.
Life has presented me with many opportunities to spend time away from what I think I know, and take for granted. Being thrust out one’s comfort zone repeatedly helps immensely to decompress, and open the mind. And under the tutelage of wise ones, I learned how to keep the mind open without losing it. So far.
Upon my return to America at the end of that same year, I immediately sensed the presence of a collective fear skulking about. Concurrently, I began to hear murmurings about a virus. A really, Really, REALLY terrible virus: everyone was at risk, and extreme measures needed to be taken post-haste if we wanted to survive, protect each other, and avert a global catastrophe.
Based on a perspective gleaned from some years on the planet, with most of that time spent in the healing arts, and in-and-out of my comfort zone, I was not alarmed. I had seen this before, viruses coming and going. Here are examples of what I am talking about:
And this is just one publication. You’ll find similar sensational stories extending back through time, and across all media platforms.
When we consider history, and the increasingly intense levels of catastrophic messaging that has, and continues to be propagated for profit, is it any wonder then why we the people would be at great risk of self-destruction; fearfully reacting rather than fearlessly responding appropriately to threats made to our security and survival?
Back to words and meanings!
To react is to undergo a change due to influence; to make a counterattack; tend to reverse, or trend in a backward direction.
To respond is to answer.
To answer is to meet, satisfy, to succeed.
"Don't take my word for it! Do your own research!" It was a frequent admonishment from my teacher. We were expected to participate fully in our learning, and if during our studies questions arose regarding the subject, they were always welcomed.
Questions help to understand the significance, and insignificance, of things. Answers often take their time in coming, asking for our patience. They do come: sometimes right away, sometimes when you least expect it, and sometimes even after you have forgotten the question. If you ask a question with an answer already in mind, the truth you seek, if you are seeking it, will elude you.
The problem with doing your own research is that you will learn things you would rather not know. Then, it slowly dawns on you how much you really do not know. This can be terrifying initially. Do not lose heart. Once you get over the indignation of how little you know despite all the years you spent in school so that you would know, realizing that you still do not know all there is to know becomes terrifyingly exciting.
The good thing about doing your own research is that you do not have to go into debt up to your eyeballs for most of your adult life to do it. There is nothing like mountains of debt, (or mountains of cash for that matter), to slam a once open, and curious mind shut. Ultimately, doing your own research will set you free, as long as the nightly news, Google, and Wikipedia are not your primary sources for information, and once you recover from all the terrifying bits.
Fear is our friend. It is the gift of a built-in survival mechanism that we all possess, an internal yellow light that advises us to pause, and if we proceed, to do so with caution.
When the fear response is activated by a threat, real or imagined, to ensure our survival blood supply to the organs is diverted to the major muscles, heart, and lungs. Hormones flood the body, heart rate and breathing are accelerated, the immune system shuts down - and in a matter of seconds, we are poised to fly, or to fight.
Once the real or imagined threat is addressed, the fear-light turns off (ideally), and the mind-body resumes its normal, precisely balanced functions. The immune system comes back online, and remains on standby, ever ready to fulfill its role of safeguarding the health of the body.
Fear turned on, and stuck on, is an open invitation for illness to gain a foothold in the body. Prolonged states of fear tighten the mind, and suffocate the heart. Strangled we cannot think; smothered we cannot feel. We miss signals from our environment, the information that is always available to us, information critical to clear and sound decision-making.
Without the moorings of a sound mind and a clear heart we are adrift, influenced by points of reference outside ourselves that we have little or no direct relationship to.
If you are unsure about being influenced by reference points outside yourself, try this experiment: Sit down without any food, alcohol, or drugs, and watch the nightly news from beginning to end. Pause afterwards, close your eyes for a few moments, and acknowledge how you feel. If you are feeling less than upbeat and enthusiastic about life, go outside, take a walk, breathe deeply. As horrifying as story hour may have been, remind yourself that there is harmony, and beauty, and good in the BIG picture, as well; the nightly news just decided not to cover it, for some strange reason.
A sound mind is a calm mind. A calm mind is attentive, and considers incoming information in context and objectively. Information is constructive, generating love and life, or destructive, generating fear and death.
A calm mind is discerning, and has the resources available to it to respond appropriately to whatever the moment presents. A calm mind prevents fear from becoming a permanent state of being.
With a sound mind, a calm mind, thought is elevated; we are inspired - Divinely animated and influenced.
Elevated thought is nuanced thought, it is the nature of thought that springs from the deep stillness of a mind and heart in their natural state of ease - a state of relaxed, informed consciousness - your True nature.
Awareness is a floodlight; the big picture. Attention is a spotlight, a focused beam of light, of mind, that highlights an aspect of information regarding the big picture. Where your attention goes, energy follows.
Mind is the amplifier of information; it energizes, empowers and helps to make manifest whatever it focuses on: fear amplifies fear, love amplifies love, etc.
A calm, inspired mind has the natural capacity to acknowledge, and encompass what Is (floodlight): all the fear, ugliness, and trauma of the mundane world, while choosing to remain aware of, focus on (spotlight), and thus anchor the love, beauty, and truth that Is the underlying Reality of existence.
When we are stressed, tired, out-of-sorts, our minds tight, we miss the gentle yellow glow of fear-light when it first turns on - we do not slow down, we do not exercise caution. Imagine yourself a yellow light, trying to alert a loved one and being ignored. You see they are about to walk off of cliff, and they tell you to relax, or they change the subject. That is how fear-your-friend feels when dismissed.
Frustrated at being ignored, fear morphs from friend to foe, into a giant sticky blob of extreme anxiety and insecurity that threatens to swallow us whole unless we do something RIGHT NOW!
When overwhelmed by the fear blob, we will do anything to assuage it, to get rid of the feeling. Consuming an entire party-size bag of potato chips in one go has been known to quell the blob. So does alcohol, drugs of all kinds, shopping, technology, sex, midnight raids on the refrigerator, and escapism of all sorts - for a time anyway.
“We are very afraid of being powerless. But we have the power to look deeply at our fears, and then fear cannot control us.” - Thich Nhat Hanh
In the balanced state known as health, fear remains our friend, our ally, ever ready to assist, and support us in making appropriate life-enhancing decisions.
Health is natural, simple, straightforward, and guileless. In health, with fear in check, we are impervious to distraction, reaction, and manipulation. We know who, what, and why we are; we know what to do, and when to do it. And if we do not know, we are okay with waiting until we do.
Fearless, our very presence levels the playing field of possibility in support of the generative principle called Life.
Life for all.
Sadhana (practice):
My teacher's advice on how to effectively deal with fear was to declare as often as needed: "I welcome fear, and I am not afraid of it!" It helps to say it like you mean it, especially the "and" part.
In welcoming fear, we acknowledge the caution light is on, what is happening, and how we are feeling. Declaring we are not afraid of fear reminds us that fear is not the boss of everything.
“It is fear that brings death, fear that breeds evil. And what causes fear? Ignorance of our own nature.” - Vivekananda
Declaring we are not afraid of fear reinforces our sense of Self, our True nature, and our connection with Infinite Intelligence. We remember we are fearless. No matter what.
PS: Question: What does a fearless response to threats to my sense of security, and/or survival look like?
As long as the threat is not immediate, such as finding yourself face-to-face with a wild animal about to devour you, wait for more clear, and consistent information. While you pause to assess the situation, keep the mind and heart calm, and the immune system robust by observing the basic tenets of health. Keep in mind that health needs differ somewhat depending upon the seasons, and circumstances of life:
Proper rest
Proper exercise
Spend plenty of time outdoors, in natural light. Early morning, and evening times are best. Walk around barefoot on the earth when you are able to.
Drink plenty of pure water: more than you think you need, more than any other beverage you imbibe daily.
Eat natural, wholesome foods
Laugh often
Love yourself
Love your neighbor
Love
Practice living your life as an expression of gratitude for all that Is, even the lumps, and bumps.
Imagine if you were bombarded with these principles every moment of the day.
Bombard yourself. And lo and behold, you will see, and experience, the effects of your efforts as they ripple out into the collective field of consciousness we know as the world.
Next time you are near a pond, or in the bathtub, drop a pebble in the water and watch how long, and far the ripple effects of your pebble-thought-intention-action extends. Every thought, every word, and every deed causes ripples just like that pebble. Just like a radio signal. If you pay close attention, you will notice the rippling goes on ad infinitum.
So it is with you.
“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind” - 2 Timothy 1:7
When in doubt: love more, fear less.
Ripple love.
contact: sadhana247@proton.me