At least once a month I open the Akashic Records for a group and respond to questions asked by the participants. Questions span the entirety of the human experience and reach into the mysteries of the universe. (Akashic Records Q&A)
As I look back at this shared wisdom, I am struck by how many seemingly separate topics are joined by a common instigator.
The instigator is not a person, or a country, or a group of people.
Instead, the instigator is an emotion we all as beings on this planet experience.
Fear.
This is the instigator.
Fear is at the roots of anger, blame, manipulation, control, dominance, and judgment.
The incessant fighting at all levels of our society is rooted in how we choose to either react or respond in the face of fear. A whole big ole part of this fear comes from the deepest, oldest parts of our brains.
The fear of survival.
A fear which is a very real and very visceral experience, floating up without much warning, taking us over.
In the face of fear, we can lose ourselves in the instinct of react to protect.
Whether you think of this as monkey brain, or lizard brain, or stupid brain – the automatic, reactive nature can kick in and overpower your actions and thoughts before the rest of your cerebral cortex has caught up.
Recently, I have been noting ways in which fear has motivated parents to react to protect.
I get it. I’m a parent. I can look back on my daughter’s life and tap into what raised fear within me because of her. Hell, she’s in her 30s now and the specter of fear still looms in my awareness of her and her life.
But at some point, parents have the challenge to realize that most of their fears will not be realized and that our kids are capable of avoiding disaster. Getting caught up in our fear does them no good.
Plus, there is so much I’ve learned about fear even in just the last twelve months. As I have mentioned at the beginning, the Akashic Records have been quite vocal about the detriment fear has on us. A specter we often lose to. A energetic surge which devours us int its giant, penetrating grasp.
And when it comes to our children, for most of us there is no stone we won’t overturn, fling, or hide behind to protect our little ones.
In this protective push, it can be very difficult to understand that our fear instinct is being used against us.
Think of every pejorative label out there and take a moment to see that at the base of each label is fear. That the use of the label is to instill fear where otherwise there is often no reason for fear to exist. That the fear is a manipulation and an attempt to control you and how you choose to live your life.
At the bottom of the label, fear is able to pry open a hole because part of our base instinct is how we define and react to the unknown.
The dark abyss. Chaos. Evil. The lurking in the dark shadows and in the unlit back roads.
However, what I’ve learned about fear from the Akashic Records is this:
Fear is a choice.
When you get out ahead of your instinctual fear response and move from mindless reaction to thoughtful response, fear is not a must-experience or you-have-no-choice moment.
Fear is a choice.
And interestingly, part of what will bring fear into the realm of your choice is getting friendly with the unknown.
When you’re able to lean in, feel anticipation within the more positive end of the emotional spectrum, fear begins to lose its leverage. Fear can no longer hit with life threatening blows.
If you can stand on the edge of the cliff of the unknown and bring forward the light and joy of your heart, what you anticipate will begin to open before you as more positive outlook or more doable without the blinders of fear.
Instead of only darkness and reaction, you can begin to see possibility that your thoughtless, fear-driven reaction missed as it needlessly ran into protection mode.
This is not to say protection is bad.
This is to say the importance is in how protection is launched.
Thoughtless reaction.
Mindful response.
Your choice. Always your choice.
Know this choice is not the easy road.
Thoughtfulness, personal growth, learning that folks aren’t out to get you because of those pejorative labels – this is not easy – at least initially.
You gotta wrestle with the inner demon of unleashed fear. You’ve gotta come to terms with your responsibility for you. You’ve got to allow that maybe – just maybe – your tendency to blame and judge others because fear is not in your best interests. Reacting via assumptions and false narratives actually, ultimately harms you.
Plus, the jerks who unleashed your fear and sent you down a path of denial and blame are cozy at home having gotten whatever it is they came for.
When the nature of fear as choice struck me, I was overcome by grief and anger. There were other ugly emotions and experiences which bubbled up because I could no longer hold the mess back. But I found two life changing perspectives:
I will no longer allow others to control me especially through fear.
I am a happy person whose natural instinct is awe in the face of the unknown.
In other words, I got to accept my responsibility for my choice about fear when I claimed my personal power for me – instead of handing my power over mindlessly to the authority figure of the moment.
Then I saw I was not inherently afraid of the unknown. Suspicions, assumptions, judgments, expectations – all of this detrimental crap did not benefit me. Instead wonder, joy, awe are my intrinsic traits.
With these two thoughts in mind, I was no longer afraid of connection with others, with the world, or with the unknown.
Finally, I was now at choice with fear. No longer able to wag my tail, fear lost power over me.
This isn’t to say I don’t feel fear anymore. Rather, now, I can recognize when it appears. I can consciously examine why-now, why-here.
Then I make my choice present to me and to my amazing personal power.
My best suggestion: learn to be present to yourself – all of you – the raw, the tormented, the neglected.
In your presence, you’ll begin to see the origin of your fear and get out ahead of its snarky grin.
That’s the moment you’ll get that your response to fear is your choice.
That’s the moment you’ll declare that fear has no place in your life.
And that’s when you find the opportunity to consciously shift from survive to thrive.
May peace and joy be yours.
With awe for you always!
Cheryl
The Choice of Fear: for more articles like this: For Body, Mind, Heart, and Soul
