Fear Is The Real Killer

In the wake of the Boston bombings and the reignited waves of emotion sweeping over this country, all erupting from this horrific event, I am reminded of how powerful and potent fear can be. It’s such a primal force, isn’t - almost like the overpowering effects of a drug that totally changes our perceptions of any given situation we’re confronted with, whether face to face or heard over the news.

 

It sends a shock current deep inside our emotional bodies, hitting up against very old patterns built into our human hard drive systems that predate this present life by millennia. The deeply rooted, hidden and imbedded parts of ourselves that get triggered in times of threat and perceived danger go all the way back to our earliest origins in form on this planet.

This primeval response or reaction within us are so much a part of our subconscious instinctive drive, that really sets the foundation to our humanness in the first place. It’s the ‘fight or flight’ mechanism that fits under Survival On Earth 101 – without it, our species (given the whole ‘survival of the fittest’ theory of evolution) would've become extinct even before we could stand upright. We'd have been dinosaur lunch long ago. 

Fear makes you act in ways you’d never ever conceive of and do things out of dire necessity that blow your mind looking back … we’ve all heard stories of frail mothers lifting cars up off their fallen children from an accident, perhaps trapping their little ones underneath. Where does this strength come from, I’ve always wondered? I mean, seriously!

Or the opposite can happen; where it freezes you like ice, preventing you from acting at all, holding you firmly rooted to the spot, unable to move. This is the ‘dear in the headlights’ look we all know – when we’ve been emotionally so to such a degree, you can’t move a muscle. It’s like time suddenly stands still with our internal circuitry spinning and scrambling inside, fuses popping every which way, shutting down our guidance system, Ka- Put & Tilt! Tilt! Tilt!

Because it triggers such core, visceral reactions, our ability to consciously handle this emotion is often not so easily done. This is a kind way of saying we freak out, loose our shit and go nuts. It’s expression is rarely pretty or finessed or diplomatic in the least. It just IS! Like witnessing the waves of emotion released from Boston earlier this week, the mental and emotional places we individually and collectively go are priceless indicators into who we are and where we are in our Awakening process.

There is perhaps no better flash card indicator that speaks to our conscious state of awareness (or lack thereof) than when we’re confronted with a perceived threat, either immediate or removed. This goes for the loosing-you-bags-at-the-airport-carousel type of disappointment as well. On all energetic and physical levels – do we lock up, do we remain still, do we move towards the danger or do we run away? Or do we typically explode in anger, pissed off to the max?

 From my sense of this and equally possible, am I immediately able to take in and grock the moment, responding in a more conscious way or do I rattle and crumble, unable to respond at all? Am I clear enough within myself to move freely and shift accordingly, always choosing to come back to resolution and peacefulness within?

 

I'm not so much placing a value judgment on this for others, however, as an observer of human nature, certainly in myself, I’m always fascinated by how I/you/we respond to our fears. Because it really is ours, after all. No one else is possibly responsible for our thoughts, feelings or actions or how we choose to meet and show up for the moments of our lives. 

Especially so, no one else holds dominion over us in how we think and feel about ourselves. This alone is our personal blessing or curse we deliver to our own Hearts. Since our total sense of self worth and/or self Love determine how we feel about ourselves, our lives and everything in it, how safe we feel in ourselves and therefore, in our world speak volumes.

Ultimately, we all have to own our self – good, bad, ugly and whatever else. It’s how we either embrace or push away our big and little nasty’s that define our level of consciousness. I was once told a pretty clear indicator of someone’s degree of consciouness was how often they complained about their lives. Do they bitchbitchbitch or can they move past the incident of challenge in ways that in fact, support their happiness.

Are we able to reframe the conflict in a favorable way that actually serves our Awakening or do we choose the old gut-check reaction that supports our sad ass story of disempowerment and lack? I know this last one all too well, thus the more accented slant. I have to believe and easily imagine we’re all very familiar with both these experiences. And the more conscious and aware we are, the more we know all serves Love, within, without, all around. The All serves Love in us all.

How this plays out for me is in recognizing there is a super slight lag time between the incident itself and how I react or choose to respond. A miniscule moment. Do I cultivate that sliver of a window to consciously choose which way I’m going to go here? Or does the immediacy of the moment overwhelm my ability to step back, if only for a nano-second, allowing me to take a breath, get present and then make a more considered choice in response? 

This is so huge and largely in part, defines who I Am. In Native American speak, do I feed the dark wolf or the light one within. When the fear hits me and my body reactively clenches, emphatically as well, how clear are my overall energy circuits so that the energy passes more through me than gets snagged, triggering away inside - and does this trigger hit cause me to either cry out, yell and scream or run away? Perhaps a combo pack of the bunch ...

And you, out there in readerland, where did you go in the aftermath of Boston and the apparent capture of the perps? Do tell.

... to be continued ...

  
PS I am offering my Heart Tantra session work here in the NY area for all those interested in experiencing and receiving world-class bodywork and Advanced Energy Healing. Please consult my web site heartantra.com and The Attunement Session for more info on my services.

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Thank You!