The Wisdom Of Fear

So often in life, we tell ourselves that fear is a problem — that fear stops us from doing the things we most want to do. What about the wisdom of fear, though? Thomas shares a story of his friend who has made a living from encountering his fear every day for over 40 years now. The result? Not a lack of fear, but the courage to act with fear fully present. Fearlessness.

Transcript

Rather than practice mindfulness in this moment as the self, Your ordinary everyday self, I'd like you to practice as the voice of fear. So just sit in this moment, Or stand, Or walk, Or do whatever you're doing, But become fear incarnate. Take on the energy, The voice, The consciousness of the aspect of the self that fears. And to help you do this, As fear, I want you to be aware of what are you afraid of? Call up anything that you're afraid of in this moment. A person, A place, A thing, Any emotion, Any experience, Anything under the sun that could possibly call you up as fear. Bring it forward just a little bit, Just enough so that you feel the fear that you are. And as this voice, This aspect of fear, Notice what a vital role you play to keep the safe, To keep the self safe, Protected, Aware of danger, Aware of the possibility of failure. Feel the way this fear that you marshal all of the attention, The concentration, The awareness of the self, Because when danger is present, The self becomes very present and you help the self see that something dangerous may be present. Just appreciate this for a moment. So I'm speaking to you fear, Appreciatively, Praising the important function you play in the life of the self. You're vital. Without you, The self, Who knows? The self wouldn't have made it this far. But then consider as fear, If you ever go too far, Do you ever make too much noise? Do you ever dominate other aspects of the self, Other voices, Other parts of the self that might act in a different way than you would act as fear? So I'm asking you as fear to take a perspective here on the totality of the self. If the self were a round table full of wise voices and capacities, Do you sometimes dominate the conversation, Make too much noise and not listen enough? Just notice. Now as fear, I want you to notice your relationship to courage. Just notice the presence of courage in this moment. How do you feel towards courage? Close, Distant, Intimate, Unfamiliar, Estranged, Maybe even alien. Really take courage in this moment. Feel the presence of courage. Now I want you to actually take the seat, Take the position of courage, Letting the voice of fear fade into the background. Now sit and meditate as the voice of courage. Feel yourself as courage now, Courage incarnate. What's your role in the life of the self? What do you do for the self as courage? You show the self that it can do hard things. You show the self that it doesn't need to be a slave to fear. Fear actually calls you forward as courage, As courage you're only needed when fear is present. If there's no fear present, There's no you, There's no courage. And you realize if there's no fear present, There's no you, There's no courage. Feel your heart, Feel your backbone, Feel the way you express courage in the world. You say the thing that's difficult to say. You confront the bully. You set a long-term goal that's really hard to accomplish and you stay with it day in, Day out, Not in the absence of failure, But including all the failures that doing something hard inevitably entails. Feel your strength and capacity to overcome as courage. And without fear, You're non-existent. If fear never shows up in a situation, Then courage never shows up. Let's let go of these voices, Fear and courage, For a moment. And I just want to invite you as your everyday self to be present here, Feeling courage and fear alike, Simultaneously present as one in the same reality. How can you possibly get to something real if fear isn't present? Fear is the outer edge of what you, The self, Feel you can tolerate, Feel you can handle, Feel you can encounter. Fear is the horizon of your known world. It tells you when you're at your very edge. And of course, Each time you encounter fear, You can take five steps back into your known world. And sometimes that's the right thing to do. Sometimes fear gives us the best information possible and it's not wise to push into it. So you need to call on your discerning wisdom here. Call up a situation in life right now that inspires fear. You're afraid of it, But not because the danger is mortal danger. Afraid because you've never gone here before. But what would happen if instead of retreating, You came up right against fear and kissed it, And stayed with it, And felt this fear deep in your bones, Deep in your belly, In your heart, In your mind. You just really felt the fear move all through you. Whatever it is you're afraid to do, Whatever it is you're afraid to try to move into, To grow into, And already courage is present just by staying with the fear you are courage. Stay with it. Stay here. See how much you can learn. You don't have to do more than you're ready to do. You can't do more than you're ready to do. Maybe you're ready to do more than you thought you were ready to do right now. Stay here. What is it? What are you afraid of? Don't leave. Don't back off. Stay with it. Stay with it until you find something real, Something you love, Something that's worth everything, To give everything you have for it.

Reviews

Thank you for this most timely practice. There's something which is bothering me currently and this is very helpful. Namaste

Yet again a powerful invitation towards Awareness. Clarity. Confronting, provoking and significant realisation of steps towards inner peace xxx W💜W xxx 🙏🥰🙏 much much gratitude 🥰💜🥰

Wow.