Fear lodges in our minds and our bodies and keeps us from moving at all. It holds us back and makes us focus on the problems that can come up instead of opening ourselves up to possibility. It makes us think of the one thing that won’t work, instead of the many that could possibly be.
We’re going to go through a process to shift your relationship with your fear. You will be asked to have a dialog with your fear and literally talk to it in an internal conversation and find out what the voice of fear has to say. You will identify it in a particular place in your body and then release the feeling. You will be able to let go of a block that you didn’t know about and may have been there for a long time. It’s a transformational process that will allow you to re-commit to your goal and move forward.
FRIENDS WITH FEAR
CENTERING EXERCISE
STEPS
1. Close your eyes. Take a minute to go within and connect with your inner self or highest wisdom. Set your intentions for this process and, if appropriate, ask for spiritual assistance. When you are ready, begin,
2. What is the goal that you want to achieve next? Is your goal heartfelt, specific, and scary? If not, find a goal that meets all three of these criteria.
3. Are you aware of any fears or resistance around your goals? If so, see where the fear resides in your body. Is it in your stomach, head, heart, breath? Is there a tingling, a heaviness? Descibe the feeling.
4. Put one or both hands on that place in your body and connect with it. Create an energy of acceptance, curiosity and understanding with it.
5. Talk to your fear. Listen to what the fear has to say. Try to understand what fear is worried about. Ask, “What are you trying to warn me about?” “What would it mean if that happened?” “How are you trying to protect me?” “What is the worse case scenario that you’re worried about?”
6. Now, ask questions to the voice of fear that help create acceptance. Ask “How are you serving me the best way you know how?” “What is your positive purpose?” “Is there anything else you want to share with me?”
7. Make an offer of friendship to the voice of fear, exploring the possibility of taking steps that are both scary and safe. Say: “It sounds like your voice of fear is trying to protect you the best way it knows how. Do you agree? Ask this voice if it would be willing to work with you, and partner together, to pursue action steps that are both scary and safe. What is that something you can agree to do together?”
8. Create an agreement with the fear about how to work together in the future.
9. Acknowledge the great work you have done.
Take a deep cleansing breath and let it out.
