What am I choosing to bring to the world?
This is the question Gabrielle Bernstein invites us to ask ourselves in her book May Cause Miracles. The premise of her book is that we can create miraculous shifts in all areas of our lives by turning our fears into love.
In the final week of practices, she points out that in healing our fears and choosing love, we bless the world and create new energetic patterns that foster the spread of love, light and transformation to others.
I have come to believe that much of the journey to personal healing and transformation is really about healing/releasing our fears and transforming those energies into love. Along this path, I have learned many techniques for letting go of fear, and I use at least half a dozen with my clients and students.
Today, I would like to share a simple yet powerful shamanic technique for transforming fear into love, courage, confidence, joy, trust...anything you'd like to welcome into your life in place of fear. I learned the foundation of this technique from one of my teachers, Jose Stevens, and I have integrated some of Gabrielle's Bernstein's methodology and others I've learned to create a really powerful practice.
Here are the basic steps for this technique:
1) The most important thing to cultivate is awareness of the underlying fear that you've gotten hooked by. One of the best ways to do this is by observing yourself. Pay attention to when you don't feel good...maybe irritated, sad, frustrated, anxious or afraid. Notice it and realize that most likely some underlying fear/wound has gotten triggered.
2) It's very difficult for most of us to simply be with our feelings, so we often try to escape, numb or avoid them by turning to unhealthy coping patterns. When you feel yourself doing this, sit down and tune into what you're feeling and get ready to explore your feelings by either talking to your heart or doing some stream of consciousness writing.
3) Then, get quiet and grounded in your body and ask yourself the following kinds of questions: "What's wrong? What's upsetting you? What are you afraid of? Where's the hurt coming from? What's the deeper fear behind everything you're feeling?" It's amazing what insights you can have by simply pausing and exploring your feelings and thoughts.
4) Once you get to the heart of the issue, recognize that the underlying fear is just an energy. You don't have to let it control your actions or feelings. To put this fear in perspective and release it, see it as an energy that's outside of you and separate from you. And then in a very neutral way, speak to it saying, "You have no power over me." With that one statement, you are beginning to take your power back.
5) Then, decide what you would like to welcome in place of the fear. Perhaps love, courage, joy, confidence, power, peace, or something else. And ask, "What would it be like to experience this from a space of love (and/or courage, peace, joy, or whatever qualities you've chosen)? What would that look like? What would that feel like?" By asking these questions, we bring curiosity to the situation and open ourselves to more positive possibilities.
6) As you put your question out into the Universe, allow you heart and mind to wander and imagine feeling those energies you want to welcome in and living your life from that space. I find this visualization of the emotions and whatever images come to mind to be very healing and inspiring. It shifts our energy to a higher, better-feeling state.
7) To close, seal your intention to live life from a space of love, courage, joy, etc. by saying, "Today, I choose to live from a space of love (and whatever other qualities you want to welcome)." You can use this phrase as a mantra you repeat anytime a fear thought comes up, and you can add even more power to your intention by then taking some action forward that is loving, courageous, etc.
This is a beautiful process that gains power with practice. It's like a muscle you develop...the more you use it, the stronger it gets. When I first began working with the basic technique, I didn't feel the shift right away, so don't worry if that's the case for you. The act of intending to release fear and welcome in energies of a higher frequency is powerful and with practice, you will feel the transformation.
If you have any questions about the technique or would like additional support in releasing fear or anything else that no longer serves you, I invite you to email me. Big hugs and many blessings to you on your journey.