5 Types of Fear and How You Can Overcome Them
Is there anything I need to fear in this moment?
Am I safe in this very moment?
What will happen to me if I simply love the fear?
Can I let the story of this fear unfold and can I stay with the fear long enough to allow myself to unfold into it?
Fear is one of the biggest obstacles in life. There are many types of fear that we face in our day to day. It’s an incredibly powerful force that acts against us in everything we do, preventing us from truly experiencing life and our Divine destiny. And make no mistake, there is no human that is unencumbered by fear. Those who are courageous have simply learned to manage their fear better than others.
Fear is painful and disseminating because it is a negation of who we really are. Our emotional states are affected by the degree to which we ourselves think and act in harmony with inner selves and ultimate destiny.
Understanding how the brain works and how our brain self-sabotages us and activates certain behaviors is one of the most exciting opportunities in life we will ever have, because on the other side, is the emotional freedom and depth of joy that we were born to have. The process of facing our fears is going to lead us step-by-step into the greatest expression of our self. Here are some common types of fears we all struggle with, and some tips on overcoming them.
1. FEAR AND THE PRESENT MOMENT
What is the want to gain understanding of your mind, and therefore, becoming free of irrational fear?
FEAR about what might or might not happen in the future is stuff of the mind, even if the future is one hour from now. The present moment does not create such emotions and there is no other reality than the present moment. Just like my friend Christina says we cannot go to the store to buy something yesterday. Nor can we go now to buy something tomorrow. We cannot act in the past or in the future. We can only act in the present. Only in the present can we make decisions or respond to events or challenges. Only in the present can we exercise our free will to change our lives. The only point of power to create and change our lives is the present moment.
2. FEAR AND FAITH
How do we experience fear or faith?
Fear and Faith are two sides of the same coin. Fear is in one and faith on the other. It is up to us to flip the coin and see both sides. We can recognize the difference of the two by understanding that fear imprisons, faith liberates; fear paralyzes, faith empowers; fear disheartens, faith encourages; fear sickens, faith heals; fear makes useless, faith makes serviceable. (Harry Emerson Fosdick)
Most of our negative actions come out of fear. Just a simple trigger leads us to mind chattering, flickers of anxiety, a cacophonous voice and then a barrage of disorderly thoughts, disruptive emotions and frightening images of uncertainty. We are on a fear side of the coin. Faith is our passionate intuition that connects us to our breath of life and the life force energy we all possess.
Faith becomes an assurance of things we hope, silence and stillness wraps around us and creates a protective shield of inner peace, tranquility and easiness that leads to the courage of the heart. Faith is an immeasurable force of strength and a creative force that can move everything around us. Faith excites activity and creates assurance and trust. We are at the faith side of the coin.
3. FEAR AND LOVE
Why do we need to choose love over fear?
Love contains an inheritance of faith, an impelling force that creates awareness of our instinctive life. This immeasurable force allows us to enjoy love free from fear and at the same time be receptive, open and be able to protect all those who are recipients of it. By choosing to live from love we set our ego aside and allow our heart to take over and be a loving spirit in action.
Love is powerful and beyond any bounds. Using love we can easily relinquish fear in order to bring grace, beauty and success to our family and others around us. The miraculous faith of love initiates us into the world of spirit, protected by the principle of life itself. It is obvious that we need to experience love. It is the experience of who we really are, and the opposite of fear.
4. FEAR AND LONELINESS
What is meant by “being alone”?
This type of fear is one of the hardest to endure. The emptiness of being alone is unbearable because it is the opposite of the truth. Loneliness is painful, because it is in fact a separation from our true inner self. We feel that are not connected with others and life. This feeling of being separate from others, and the forces around us, causes the development of – defense mechanisms that seriously obstruct our happiness.
We believe that if we are not accepted by others, we will be alone. Regardless of whether those around us love us, we are unable to experience that love connection. If we want to experience the joyful divinity of every present moment, we will need to let go of the illusory feeling of separateness created by our senses; when in fact we are spirit, energy and matter connected with the all that is.
As we expand and become more aware of the principles of life, what happens? We find that we need less and less from the outer world and other people. We realize that security, love and joy are innate qualities of being. They can’t be lost, only forgotten. So, the highest project we can devote our self to is self-discovery. In the end, loneliness will seem like a phantom, something barely remembered.
5. FEAR AND SECURITY
Do we live life from our dreams and aspirations or from our insecurities and attachments?
When we watch the media, or hear or read news that is very disturbing for us, the first question we might ask ourselves is; “Why is this experience coming my way and what am I supposed to do with it?”
While some of the issues become reasons for concern, we need to understand that fear coming from outside insecurities such as economy, environment, pollution and people has an inherent intelligence of protection. We can use it as a way of self-discovery. We can use this type of fear, which gives us an opportunity to reality test our experience and to determine what is real for us. Otherwise, fear will isolate us from the most purely formed living thing on earth that is our heart.
Allowing our mind to go on auto-pilot moves us into a fearful mood. As a society, this type of fear can cause entire economies to shift as banking, lending, investor and consumer spending often goes down. Instead of being fearful of outside factors let us remember the words of President Franklin D. Roosevelt who said, “All we have to fear is fear itself.”
True and lasting security… does not come from anything exterior to our being.
It is inner security that regulates us and gives us a sense of well-being.
It allows us to let down our guard, relax and recharge our life force energy.
True security is not found in the outer material world nor is it found in our relationships with others. It is this inner security we need to cultivate, and it is our connection to our Divine Source. When we have this peace within, it releases us from fear and worry about our survival. Ultimately, it helps us create reserves of life force energy for going through challenging times. We need only experience this inner security in order to feel protected in all aspects of life.
Often enough I ask myself, “Do I live life by being fearful of this world or do I live with ultimate faith and love?” When the force of faith flows within me, I instantaneously connect to the courage of my loving heart. I experience the force of faith like a light dwelling from the seat of my heart, an internal light that doesn’t go out, but pervades, infuses, and animates all life. This is the true secret to overcoming all types of fear.
…Love and Light,
Christina and Dimitri
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Dimitri Spanos was born in Athens, Greece and has lived in New York for the past forty-five years. He is the co-author of The Mind Is the Map and co-founder of Eudaimonia Center, a learning center for offering transformational change, facilitating core healing and personal development, while empowering others to live extraordinary, healthy and productive lives. Dimitri Spanos, CEQP, is a Certified Six Seconds EQ Practitioner. Certification from Six Seconds represents a level of expertise and commitment to a unique and powerful methodology. After successfully completing a three-year program and receiving certification in Heart Initiation, Dimitri has made a practice of working with Heart Interiority and Alignment, methods of sustaining heart-consciousness, a way of living his life. These combined skills come together to provide the expertise to write this book with such great passion, understanding the mysteries and mastery of the mind to live a more fulfilled and happy life.
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We have heard an acronym for “Fear” is forget everything and run. This is the flight mentality at the prospect of failure.
I believe that it is better to jump in and experience life than to stand on the sidelines fearing that something might go wrong.
For me, this statement applies to love, my sense of security, my choice of life work and ultimately my peace of mind. Thank you, Dimitrios, for your personal understanding of fear-based thoughts and limiting beliefs.