Fear..friend or foe

Fear. The one thing standing between many and their dreams. The automatic clenching and tightening of parts of the body.. but also the enhancement of the body, the bringing about of heightened states of awareness.
Fear is actually an imaginary force that grips millions of souls..fear is the lack of knowing of the unknown. No one fears what they already know, we only fear what we think we do not know, what we are not used to. And to think that it is out of this place of the unknown that the most beautiful, most ingenious things are born.

So, is fear our friend or foe?

Every one feels fear at some moment in life, and for some of us it pops up more times than we would like. So, how does one overcome fear? Is it something to overcome? or is it something to understand? And if so, how does one understand the role of fear and use it to their advantage?

In a TEDx video I watched a few months ago, two of my former university mates discussed how we can go about harnesssing the power of fear. And one important thing they mentioned is that 'we are taught/programmed to fight fear; but how can we fight something that is innate, something that is outside of our control because it happens automatically.'
That statement now brings me to question whether we are really born with fear or is it something that is learned? A way of being that is developed over the years from our experiences and our environments. Let me give an example, I am terrified of lizards but I can easily touch or hold a snake..what is the difference? They are both reptiles with similar feel to the skin..but for some odd reason I fear lizards. Now re-tracing this fear, I end up going back to a memory of my mom screaming and jumping around at the sight of a lizard..and what do I do at the sight of a lizard? Well, now I can calmly stare at it and try to shoo it through the window, but before these calmer days I would react quite similar to my mother - screaming, jumping on the bed and eventually running out of the room. Now, is it just a coincidence that my mother and I are terrified of lizards, and react (or used to react) the exact same way at the sight of even the tail? I don't believe in coincidence, everything happens for a reason; and the reason I used to jump around and scream at the sight of a lizard, is because my mom did. As a child I learned that behaviour. I learned that reaction to lizards. By witnessing my mother's reaction to something I did not know, I automatically learned that I was supposed to jump and scream whenever I see this tiny four legged creature.

Now you try, think of something you fear and see if it is connected to a learned response..one that automatically happens, because that is all you have ever known to do in that particular situation.
So, we can say that fear can be learned and if it can be learned, it can be unlearned or transformed.

Yup, this is where I ask the question again. Is fear our friend or foe? or both?
I would say that fear is neither friend or foe..it is whatever you choose it to be. Let's think about it, a friend is someone you embrace, you accept. A foe is usually someone that is kept at a distance and watched carefully and at times there is a fight. Which do you see fear as, friend or foe? And which would you rather see fear as?

With knowledge and insight like this, we can make a conscious choice to be-friend our fears. To accept them, embrace them and eventually transform them from images that scare and weaken us to images to strengthen and empower us. And you what, the more we look at fear as our friend, the more we realize that there is nothing to fear and the feeling of fear becomes transmuted and connected to a more positive reaction or action.

So here is a challenge..
Turn that fear of change, fear of love, fear of losing, fear of not being right, fear of being hurt, fear of not being all that you want to be, fear of darkness..turn that fear into the acceptance of the possibility of these things by embracing change, embracing love, embracing loss, embracing being wrong, embracing being hurt, embracing that you might not be all that you want to be, embracing the darkness within and all around..embrace and accept those things. Once you have embraced and accepted these things, only then can you move around them, see beyond them and forge a new reality that is no longer tainted by the fears but now empowered by them.

A friend of mine had a post with this quote from Marianne Williamson, 'Our greatest fear is not that we are inadequate, but that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that frightens us.'

I believe it is so very true. We must embrace the fear of being all powerful, accept it and use it to empower our lives and that of others.

Embrace the fears, Empower many lives.

Love & Light to all,

Tora