On Allowing Fears
I’ve begun to use the term allowing quite a bit, both in my work and in life in general, and it has struck me that although it’s fairly straightforward to understand the term intellectually, getting there through emotions and really knowing what it is on an intrinsic level can be something else entirely. And then when you put allowing and fears together in the same phrase, there can be widespread panic! What does this mean, exactly?
You might phrase the question this way:
How would you suggest allowing fears? I understand about allowing as a concept intellectually but have such a hard time with it otherwise. What does it feel like? And HOW, exactly, can one move to a space of allowing?
What is important here to consider are the actions that are actually taking place. Everything, as you know, can be broken down into terms of simple movement of energy. Energy, then, and its movement and the effects of such movement, can be considered the building blocks of life experience. Everything hinges upon energy and the manipulation of it. Everything.
Therefore, we must discuss what is actually taking place on a very specific basis during the process termed “allowing”.
Allowing is a space of receiving. It is openness with no additional requirements. There is nothing to do, per se, there is only a space in which to be. Is that clear? There is no action required beyond that of existence itself. No action. None.
Ponder, then, the possibilities here. Ponder the repercussions. What does this mean, exactly? How does this translate into your everyday life?
If one is totally and completely open, inviting in experience, and there is no further action, what does this mean? It means there are no thoughts, for instance, required. It means there are no expectations. It means there is no “right” or “wrong”. There is NOTHING to do, then, other than experience what comes as a result of this invitation. Simply experience it. Not analyze it, or categorize it, or change it or quantify it. You only need experience it.
Therefore, when I speak of allowing one’s fears, you know that I mean that you must only invite them, in their perfect completeness, to inhabit you fully. There is nothing more and nothing less.
You needn’t even acknowledge them, and you certainly needn’t face them. As I said, there is nothing more to allowing than simply inviting an experience.
You may ask, But fears are frightening, and uncomfortable! I will certainly have a reaction of some sort, won’t I? I am afraid of how it will feel!
Those are valid fears. As fears themselves, they may also simply be allowed. Invite them in, in their perfect wholeness. Understand that you may have reactions, that you may feel uncomfortable. Allow those feelings as well. There is room for all! You may choose to notice those feelings, and that can often be useful, but note that even that is not necessary.
But you still may have questions:
I still don’t understand. I mean, I do on an intellectual basis. It makes perfect sense. But I know that when I am IN fear, things seem illusory. How can I not lose myself in that fear and lose sight of reality? What can I do to remain balanced?
Realizing that there are times of varying realities can be helpful, especially in reducing anxiety when the shifts occur, but this is not necessary. Understanding that the fear can be allowed even if you are not conscious of it and not feeling perfectly balanced reduces some of the onus upon you, does it not? Give yourself the freedom of having ups and downs, of feeling imbalanced, while at the same time knowing that you will at some point return to center. As you become more accustomed to moving through your own personal spectrum of emotion, this movement toward center will occur more easily and likely more quickly. You are already aware of that. So trust yourself, then, to have the ability to return to center despite the amount of disconnectedness from what you perceive as reality that you may feel at a given time.
Here is an exercise that will assist you with moving consciously into a space of allowing:
Imagine you are standing at the very top point of a pyramid. This pyramid is one that appeared on the earth a very long time ago, and since that time the stones have become worn in the winds and shifting sands. You stand there and feel the heat of the sun pouring down upon you, warming you thoroughly. The stones under your feet are warm as well, which you can feel through the soles of your bare feet. The rough stones give ample sure footing even though you are in some ways poised up there precariously.
You stand there, feeling a slight breeze, feeling the warmth of the sun and the stones, and you survey what is around you. You feel a sudden shift, a wrenching in the fabric of time almost, and you realize that you have been dropped suddenly into a time when the pyramid you stand upon was quite new. The stones feel different now under your feet, still bare, and the very air shimmers slightly. The smells in the slight breeze are unfamiliar. You have no idea how you got there and even though there is a marked familiarity, there is a terror of feeling alien within a potentially hostile world. You are almost in a state of panic as you realize that a large number of people are excitedly gesticulating toward you from the ground. You have no idea what to do next and you can do nothing other than remain rooted where you are, awaiting whatever it is that is going to occur in this strange drama you have found yourself in.
A thought strikes you that it is the same sun that still warms you from above. You feel a sudden comfort in this knowledge that at least there is something familiar to you. You look out again at your surroundings and realize they are familiar once again, at least as familiar as they ever were to you. And the sun still warms the stones underneath your feet.
You see, then, how perfect simply inviting and allowing is, even fears. The sun is always present in your life, and whether you can feel them or not, those stones always remain warm under your feet. You always have the power and ability to be in complete perfection, just as you are.
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