Fear is not something to conquer
Your fear points to your freedom
Fear is not something to conquer. It’s actually a gold mine of deep intelligence.
In fact, inside your fear is what you’ve been looking for your entire life.
#1 The two kinds of fear
I make a distinction between two kinds of fear:
Visceral fear: walking a slackline over a 500-foot cliff.
Abstract fear: texting a text, losing social standing, not being liked.
Abstract fears are where the gold is (and usually the ones we avoid most). They are the body’s way of communicating that there’s a false belief or identity you’re trying to protect. If you notice your fears, they will point to all your limiting beliefs.
Example 1
Fear: I can’t say what I actually think.
What it points to:You’re sacrificing your authenticity to control what others think of you.
False Identity:“I’m a people pleaser, I don’t like conflict”
Example 2
Fear: I can’t confront my partner...
What it points to:You’re avoiding a truth that wants to be felt.
False Identity:“You can’t always get what you want in a relationship”
#2 Your fear points to your freedom
Most of us resist fear to avoid consequences. But in doing so, we actually create them. We stay small to protect our image and lose our sense of self. We silence ourselves to avoid conflict and create inner war.
But the things you fear are a pointer to the things you don’t understand. Knowing how to feel your fear allows you to go places and understand what you would not otherwise.
#3 An ancient intelligence
If you try to “out-think” fear, you’re screwed. It is an ancient intelligence originating in the most evolutionarily primitive parts of the brain. And it lives in the body, not the intellect.
The neuroscience:
When you perceive a threat, your amygdala activates in ~12 milliseconds.
Your prefrontal cortex thinking layer activates in ~300 milliseconds later, if at all.
By the time you’re “thinking,” your body is already in fight-or-flight.
#4 The part of you that is indestructible
Feeling your fear can literally feel like death because something IS dying. Often, it is an identity, a limiting belief, or a false projection onto the world.
When you feel and move through fear, you shed these things. What remains is the part of you that is indestructible.
This leads to a deep sense of aliveness, freedom, flow, and empowerment.
That’s what we do here.
Big Love,
Joe