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FEAR, STRESS AND FEELING SAFE

I FIND WITH THE STATE OF THINGS RIGHT NOW THAT I FEEL AFRAID A LOT OF THE TIME. HOW DO I OVERCOME MY FEAR?

Fear, in itself, is not a bad thing. In fact, fear is one of the tools that your intuition uses to communicate with you, because your intuition's primary purpose is to keep you safe at all times. Your intuition will use fear to alert you to danger, but there are different types of fear, and different ways that fear uses to express itself.

True gut level fear is activated by both intuition and instinct, which puts your body into survival mode - otherwise known as the “fight or flight syndrome”. The benefit of this type of fear mechanism is that it causes you to act immediately because it perceives that you are in imminent danger (this is an inherent system of self-preservation and protection, much like animals have). The drawback of this "fight or flight" mode is that it causes a surge of adrenaline to be produced, which puts the body into immediate action, but overrides the mind's ability to think clearly. To some degree, this syndrome occurs whenever there is stress, because fear is perceived by the body as stress, so stress taxes the adrenal glands while also inhibiting the mind's ability to function clearly.

In order for the messages of fear to work properly and to be able to communicate with you clearly, as they were designed to do, you must ideally be able to live in a sense of inner peace on a regular basis. Meditation is helpful for this purpose, as well as for gaining a greater sense of clarity and attunement with your intuitive guidance.

I AM UNDER CONSTANT STRESS, WHAT CAN I DO ABOUT IT?

Over time, ongoing stress will wreak havoc in both the mind and the body, and throughout the entire nervous system. This causes a breakdown in a person's physical and emotional wellbeing, eventually compromising the health of body, mind, heart and spirit, because stress was never meant to be experienced by humans on an ongoing basis. It was designed to be a survival mechanism when faced with extreme circumstances, which would soon be followed by a return to a normal state of peace.

Much of humanity today is living in a constant state of fear and stress, which is not only harmful to the body, but also undermines a person's ability to think clearly, or communicate with their intuition. It is as if you are driving with one hand always blowing the car's horn - eventually, you will cope by tuning it out, but you will not be able to hear anything else either.

Breathing slowly and deeply can be extremely helpful in achieving a state of calm and relaxation, because when one is stressed or in fear, one has a tendency either to stop breathing, or to breathe quickly and shallowly, increasing the sense of anxiety and the production of adrenaline.

HOW CAN I TELL WHAT IS REAL FEAR AND WHAT IS STRESS OR ANXIETY?

If a person is in a constant state of fear, anxiety, and stress, they will have no way of knowing what is real fear and what is self-created. This is one of the challenges we have in our modern society where many people are constantly dealing with day to day stresses of work and family life, coupled with being perpetually bombarded with fearful images in the news.

When there is something threatening you or someone you love, you will usually feel a physical response or visceral sensations, such as a tightening of your stomach, or the hairs on the back of your neck standing on end, or your heart rate accelerating. There will often be a feeling of uneasiness, a sense that something is not quite right; the greater the danger, the more of a sense of urgency you are likely to feel.

The fear that is most destructive is the fear that permeates the mind and controls your thoughts and actions, producing a constant state of anxiety over time. This kind of perpetual "what if" fear can become paralyzing. If your mind is always running scenarios of what could or might happen, then why would you want to get out of bed? The odds of something actually happening are extremely small, and there is not much of life that can be lived or experienced by staying in bed.

Your inner guidance will tell you if there is something you need to be alarmed about, but it will not keep repeating "what if" scenarios in your mind. When you allow yourself to be at peace most of the time, then you can trust your intuition and “gut” to alert you to any real danger, and enjoy the rest of your life.

HOW CAN I LEARN TO TRUST MYSELF AND MY INTUITION?

Notice that our personal antenna is always picking up signals around us, like when you are staring at someone and they suddenly turn to look at you, even when they are driving. Our protection and guidance system is like radar, it is always aware of what is around us at all times. Pay attention and look around you when you have these sensations, your guidance will tell you what to do next, and then you must listen and follow this guidance, whether it makes sense or not, whether it is rational or convenient, or not.

Don't go where you feel not to go, don't be with people you have a feeling you should not be with. Trust your feelings (your "instincts") - only you know what is true for you, even if you do not know why. Always listen to the "little voice" within you. Support children to listen to their own guidance and trust themselves, so they have permission to take care of themselves and not feel so helpless in the world. Trust that you will always be alerted when there is something you need to be aware of, then relax and live your life in peace until you receive such a message.

I FIND AS I GET OLDER, I FEEL MORE AFRAID. WHY IS THIS?

As we grow older, most of us become more aware of our mortality, and so become more fearful. Children have very little sense of danger and so are much more willing to try new things out of a sense of fearlessness and invincibility.

We could live our entire lives on "yellow alert" - just getting in the bathtub can be dangerous (but without it, life might really stink!). There are always risks in life, but just because you could cut your finger with a knife does not mean that you will never again use one. It just means that life requires a certain amount of conscientious awareness and mindfulness, and that your mind must be focused on self-love and self-care, and on what you are doing in the present moment.

When you hold a knife in your hands, you have faith in your ability to use it to nourish yourself, not harm yourself. Your mind is also such a tool that can be used either to nourish and support you, or to harm and limit you. Fear of the future stops you from living in the present. Life can only be lived now, so enjoy, and cross whatever bridges you must face in life as you come to them, and not before.

HOW CAN I FEEL SAFE?

You must have faith in yourself and in your ability to love and support yourself. You must also have faith that there is far more to this vast Universe than what you can perceive with your eyes, just as the nighttime sky reveals infinite stars which, by day, we wouldn't be able to perceive and so we might question their very existence. Within this vast Universe is a guidance system that supports you to experience safety, wellbeing and joy. You can trust this system to guide you, to keep you safe, and to lead you to joy, because that is what it is designed to do. In fact, it receives joy by giving you joy, just as you receive joy by giving joy to others (but I will discuss this in another column).

The opposite of fear is faith. On the lighter side of things, many people find peace and comfort at the thought of angels. Have faith that angels truly do exist, and that there are a myriad of angels around you at all times. The more you call upon your angels to love, support and protect you and those you love, the more angels will come to you to serve you. This is the truth. Try it! Surround yourself with your angels, surround your home with your angels, wrap yourself in angel's wings and you will feel safe and at peace soon.

Copyright 2004-2005 Grace Associates Consulting, Inc. & AskGrace.com  
All Rights Reserved.

Public Service Announcement

 Ongoing stress, fear and anxiety can take its toll on the body over time, and can lead to such conditions as asthma attacks or heart attacks. The following information might be helpful when faced with such issues.

 TECHNIQUES TO LESSEN THE SEVERITY OF AN ASTHMA ATTACK

Of course, you would want to follow all the guidelines suggested by your physician. There are also a few techniques you can use to assist in such a situation. First, you must stay calm and center your mind on the word “peace”, and tell the person experiencing asthma to do the same. Close your eyes and see a bubble of light around that person, and focus your love on his/her heart. Asthma attacks are made much worse by the acute anxiety that often accompanies them, therefore creating a sense of calm can be very helpful.

One technique that has been used successfully with people having an asthma attack is for you to sit or stand directly behind the person having the attack, holding him/her in your arms, and start breathing exactly as the asthmatic person is breathing. Then you gradually slow your own breathing down which causes the asthmatic's breathing to entrain itself to a normal breathing pattern once again.

 “HOW TO SURVIVE A HEART ATTACK WHEN ALONE”

Since many people are alone when they suffer a heart attack, this article seemed in order.

Without help, the person whose heart stops beating properly and who begins to feel faint, has only about 10 seconds left before losing consciousness.

However, these victims can help themselves by coughing repeatedly and very vigorously. A deep breath should be taken before each cough, and the cough must be deep and prolonged, as when producing sputum from deep inside the chest. A breath and a cough must be repeated about every two seconds without let up until help arrives, or until the heart is to begin beating normally again.

Deep breaths get oxygen into the lungs and coughing movements squeeze the heart and keep the blood circulating. The squeezing pressure on the heart also helps it regain normal rhythm. In this way, heart attack victims can get to a hospital.

- From Health Cares, Rochester General Hospital
via Chapter 240’s Newsletter and THE BEAT GOES ON
(reprint from The Mend Hearts, Inc. publication, Heart Response)

WHEN I FIRST READ THIS, I VOWED TO PASS IT ON TO AS MANY PEOPLE AS POSSIBLE BECAUSE IT COULD SAVE LIVES.