You Are More Than You Think You Are
YOU ARE FEARLESSNESS
Fear is a major obstacle to manifesting our dreams, but once our lives begin to flow, when we learn how to align with each now moment, we can let go of the past and obliterate any anxiety about the future.
To be limitless and experience union with Bliss, the goal of yoga, means you have to let go. Let go of the self-consciousness that so many of us experience. Let go of our reactions to the sensations and experiences that spring up around us at any given moment. Do we really have to harp on about the grumpy shopper who was rude to us in the grocery store all day long? Do we really have to react to every social media post that gets under our skin? I don’t mean we should stick our fingers in our ears and wear a blindfold all day. You are going to keep sensing what is around you, but you don’t have to take life so seriously.
You must also let go of putting all your faith and attention on what you can see with your physical eyes and what you do in your usual daily life. Fear can take hold only if you believe there isn’t anything bigger than the everyday tumultuous storm of daily events that can toss you around. If all you believe in is this level of life, then sure, it can seem super scary. There are viruses, earthquakes, shifting economies, political unrest, global warming, and accidents. There’s also the fear of not making it, of not having the right resources or skills to make your dreams happen, not to mention jealousy, which is fear of not having enough. There is fear of being alone. Fear of no one caring about you. Fear of having too much to do. Fear of success. Fear of failure.
All the “what if’s” can feel like a lot, because they are a lot. We don’t need to overstimulate our nervous system with all of this fear. It only leads to accelerated aging, disease, and death. There is supportive research, for instance, that finds that overstimulating the nervous system plays a role in the development of neuromuscular and neurological diseases.
So where do we go to become more fearless? We go deeper. Meaning, we need to go inside, not outside. We need to move beyond thinking that the physical world is all that exists. There is something bigger, an invisible world that you can tap into and experience. If you don’t believe me, then try this little experiment.
Imagine you just won the lottery. What would you do with all your winnings? How would you live? Where would you go? How would you live your life differently? Just imagine all the amazing things you could experience.
So, what just happened? If you’re like most people, your body and mind reacted to this scenario. Maybe it brought a smile to your face, or your heart started racing because a lottery win could mean a radical, new, and awesome life. Maybe your mind exploded with endless opportunities to build the house of your dreams or create a nonprofit to help others.
But all of those scenarios were just your imagination having fun, and yet your body reacted.
In this tiny imagining you were able to tap into something you could not see. There is a deeper world you can access, a world where your inner gut feelings are the guides, not just your five senses, which are always tuned in to the outer world.
Fear can keep you thinking about what you are scared of, instead of focusing on what you want your life to be like and what you want to manifest. Fear keeps you from expanding and growing. It keeps you small because if you listen to it, you stick with what is predictable. Anything else might feel too big, scary, or . . . now here’s a really annoying word . . . unrealistic.
And then there’s the opposite: living a fearless life. Fearlessness means you go through life with faith. Faith in Spirit, faith in the True Self, faith in the greater force that is working through us and around us. To be fearless means that no matter what happens, you know that something very special and powerful has your back, so that you need to be neither overwhelmed nor paralyzed.
Excerpted with permission from the author, Kimberly Snyder.
