Our response to fear can either intensify or soften it.
More often than not, we respond to the fear as though it is a problem.
This leads the fear to grow.
Below is a letter written to the fear within us all.
If read with an open heart and an open mind, it can help us soften and transform the fear that we have run from for a very long time.
A letter to our fear:
Hello fear,
We know that you are there.
We can see you, hear you, and feel you.
When you are here, our breath is short and shallow. We feel constriction throughout our body. We notice thoughts of worry and anxiety.
For a long time, we have ignored you and treated you as an unwanted guest.
We have not been willing to let you be here with us. We have not been interested in understanding you or to show you care. We have dismissed you as unimportant.
We have learnt that it is not safe to feel scared and that there is something wrong with us for feeling you.
To our fear, you have every right to be here. You are as much a part of us as anything else.
Please help us to understand you and share with us what you would like us to know.
We will do our best to tend and care for you. We will do our best to love and understand you.
We are sorry for the times you felt unwanted, rejected, and judged for being the way you are.
You have a place here.
Responding to fear
We can speak to fear. We can respond to it.
In fact, we are already responding to fear. It’s just that our response may not be conscious to us.
As we change our response to fear, we will find that how we feel begins to transform.
The most powerful thing we can do for our lives has nothing to do with anything outside ourselves: As we respond with compassion to our inner parts, the world we see will begin to change.
Everything we feel deserves compassion.
May your life blossom.