Did you ever have problems going to bed as a child because you were scared that there was something living in the closet or under the bed? Monsters living in the shadows. Then your mom or dad would come in and turn on the light and you could see there was nothing to fear.
For those of us who are living in fear, to truly let go of our fears we need to shine light onto the shadow i.e. that which truly scares us.
So what does this look like? As I wrote in my blog “Giving yourself permission to be negative”, we need to get into it. Last week, we had a family situation that came up and it conjured up a tremendous amount of fear in me. I kept on getting into the worried state and then telling myself to “not worry”, then it was like telling me not to think of a “black horse” all I could do was concentrate on the worry. I realized I did not want to look at what was really scaring me. When I gave myself permission to be really scared and to get into the “worst case scenarios” of what could happen, things changed.
For me, when I did this I got quite emotional. The fear became very real and I cried and cried. I let myself feel it and did not try and stop it. This process lasted only about 3-5 minutes. Then, I felt a shift. The fear was less intense and I felt a physical release in my body. Then I imagined the word peace and allowed the feeling of peace to fill my body.
If you want to shine the light on the shadows of your fear, try the following:
Go into “Cross body posture” (hands and feet crossed)
Close your eyes
Take a deep breath
Allow yourself to feel the fear of the situation
Really get into it
This will often get worse before it gets better
Notice when you feel a shift away from the intensity of the fear
Fill the space with a positive new feeling e.g. peace, freedom, love
This exercise helped me cast light on the shadow. I saw what was truly scaring me, not from a place of needless worry (repetitive thoughts that rehash the same thing over and over) but from a place of genuine exploration into the fear. What I found since I did this exercise, is that I am not worried about the situation. I am in a place of power where I can make rational decisions based on what is in front of me Now.
Let me know if you give this a try. When I do this with clients, they often say that “I was scared that I would go into the darkness and never get out but I was was amazed at how quickly the fear released and I was able to move onto what I wanted i.e. peace, freedom”.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Blog with you later.
Gerrianne