Crossing the Line of Fear
Talking about Fear! Again. I know. We've discussed it before, but the thing about Fear is, it keeps sneaking back in, doesn't it. And it manifests itself in all sorts of ways.
Perhaps we find ourselves isolating, either physically or emotionally, from relationships or situations.
Perhaps we find ourselves stuck in the same cycles of status quo, no matter how hard we try to break through to the next level.
I learned a great phrase this past week:
Fear is the Boundary between the Now, and What Is, and the There, and What Could Be.
It's like a little 'country of you' border line. And the lines are absolutely ready to be crossed. There is more life out there! For all of us! And yet somehow our choices keep us within the boundaries of our Now.
This visual really enlightened me this past week. When I get that little flutter of wariness, or hear that little voice telling me to stay put, I visualize a little string. And I see myself stepping over it.
The simplicity of this makes stepping outside that zone of comfort so doable! It's a step. The same as all the others, only that this one crosses over that little string.
Mine is red. What color is yours?
Mine is not even a rope, it's a line of knitting wool. How thick is yours? What is it made of? What texture is it?
Perhaps defining it visually in this way will allow us all to step past it more easily. Of course you can step over a rope! Or a string of any size.
It's not a boulder - even if somehow our mind (so craving for us to stay safe within where we are now) has created that as our truth. It's just a string. And once you step over it, it will reappear outside where you stand now. Quite flexible, the string is.
Oh and by the way, boulders can be walked around, even if they are the size of our entire comfort zone.
Begin that journey, see what you can become and what you can learn as you take step after step. Who knows, at some point you may look down and see the boulder truly is just a little thread lying there.
Remember, the foremost job description of our mind is to keep us safe from harm of any kind. That means it aims to keep us within the known, because we have, at varying levels of course, figured out how to survive within those borders. The mind doesn't know what's across that string, so it makes it appear as a giant boulder to keep us where we are.
Keep in mind, there will be heart flutters, there will be cold sweat, there will be voices screaming at us from all directions to stay where we are.
It's okay. You're not the only one, this happens to us all.
How do we stop it? Here's a great trick I learned this past year:
Make an appointment with it.
Yes, make an appointment three days from now with the doubt, the fear, the circumstances that are sending the message to us that this step is not possible.
Three days.
And within these next three days, take the steps around that boulder. One after the other. That's all anyone can do.
one step ~ one step ~ one step ~ one step ~ one step ~ one step ~ one step ~ one step
See how that adds up? Just one at a time.
If you consistently take those steps for the next three days, my bet is, when your appointment with the doubt and fear comes up, their veracity will have faded.
Depending on how far your steps have taken you in those three days, you'll likely have new doubts creeping in. That's okay too. Trust me. That's Growth! Just follow the same concept again. Repeat every three days.
As we become more and more accustomed to placing those doubtful fears into time slots, and we continue to focus on those One Steps, we will soon see something magical being to happen:
Our Self Confidence and Trust is growing!
And as it does, the doubts and fears lose their volume within our minds and hearts.
Here's to a week of One Steps! Here's to a huge growth in our self confidence and trust. Remember, the Divine is always there, carrying us or holding our hand, helping us take each of our One Steps.
Keep making those appointments for three days from now, keep taking the One Step. Why? Because you can cross that string, you can shrink the boulder. You are worth it. You are worth the risk. You are worth the work.
You got this. Believe it.
~Jewelle
