Meditation Mondays: Releasing Fear
I went to a women's business conference last week. It was beyond moving and inspiring to hear so many success stories and to meet other female entrepreneurs, leaders, and innovators in my community.
Within all the presentations and personal conversations there was an underlying commonality; FEAR. More specifically how it has held us back, but on the flipside, all the victories, whether big or small, were a result of action taken despite that fear. Not ignoring the fear or pretending it isn't there, but rather looking at it, facing it, and saying, I see you but I'm going to do this anyway.
We have all, at one point or another, kept ourselves from doing things we knew in our guts could be beneficial, delayed making decisions, or felt frozen because we were scared. Unless our lives are physically in danger, what is there to really be afraid of?
Our ghosts, haunting thoughts, anxieties, beliefs of inadequacy and unworthiness, doubts of the future…for the most part all of this is self-imposed; these are the realities we create in our lives. So if we have the power to create this reality with our negative thoughts, then we have the power to create an entirely different reality centered around more confident and secure thoughts and beliefs!
Conceptually we know that in order to have the real meaty and enjoyable life experiences, successful businesses and great relationships, we absolutely have to do things outside of our comfort zones. Think about the last time you did something that made you nervous. I'm sure you felt pretty proud of yourself after the fact…and you lived to tell the tale!
We tend to make things so serious and intense, when really in the end, most things really aren’t that big of a big deal, and If we spent half the time and energy we do on our anxieties and fears, on taking more inspired action, think about how much better and enjoyable our lives (and the lives of those around us) would be!
This week's meditation is an exercise from my teacher, Gabby Bernstein, for releasing fear.
First, answer the following questions: (You can do this in your head or I recommend taking a few minutes to jot down notes in a journal)
What is the fear-based story from your past that is blocking you?
How does fear stop you from serving others?
How do you compare yourself to others?
How do you judge yourself?
When you think of your fear story and how it holds you back, what does it feel like? Where does it live in your body? Describe it.
After describing the fear and where it lives in your body, take a moment to breathe into that fear for 90 seconds. Feeling a feeling for 90 seconds can transform it. Understand that when you avoid feeling this feeling you stay stuck in addictive patterns and ego behavior. By merely getting comfortable feeling the feeling you can free yourself from the attachment to the fear.
As you go through this process try not to judge your fear with more fear. Instead, be the nonjudgmental witness of your fear.
Following the practice of feeling the fear, recite this simple mantra: Inner guide, I surrender this fear to you. Thank you for helping me reorganize this limiting belief and restore it back to love.
Happy Meditating!
With Love & Gratitude,
Melody
"The call of this time on the planet is to replace your insecurities, habitual self-loathing, and anxiety, with security. Every day, replace insecurity with security and if you're really smart it is every minute or second. Insecurity is the disease of the human race on this planet. When you replace insecurity with security, your consciousness starts moving at computer speed. When you maintain a meditation or spiritual practice and you go somewhere that runs at a different vibrational frequency, you will see things in a different way because you're not at the same time as everyone else. There is a physical location of the neuroses and if you get good, you can project to that location and send it out with one breath or with a mantra.." -Yogi Bhajan
