Tag Archives: fear of flying

FEAR – Real or Imaginary?

As we progress in our ascension process, we hear about the importance of moving out of our fear and into a place of love.  For those of you who have not heard of ascension, it is the spiritual shift we are undergoing and have been for some time. We are moving out of the third dimension, which is primarily fear based, and into the fifth dimension which is about unification and love.   As part of this spiritual shift, we are attempting to re-connect with our spiritual selves and the source of our inner power and love.

Let’s explore fear, and how we can most effectively leave it behind and connect with that part of ourselves that is the source of our inner power and love.  Wouldn’t it be nice, not having to live in fear anymore?

You might have heard the slogan FEAR = False Evidence Appearing Real.   It suggests that FEAR is imaginary.  But is it?

When confronted by a bear, we might agree that our fear is real.  There is nothing imaginary about facing a real life threat!   But what about fear of speaking in public?   In the absents of any threat to our life, is our fear real or imaginary?  As such, we may conclude that fear is only real if we are faced with a real life threat.  But is it?

What about the fear of flying?  Just because we have a fear of flying doesn’t mean the airplane will crash.  Does then flying an airplane pose a real threat to our life?  Now we get into probabilities.  How probable is it that our airplane will crash?  We could reason that if the plane crashes, our fear was real, and if it didn’t crash, our fear was imaginary.

Some of us may believe that fear is our biggest ally because it protects us from danger.  But does it?  Let’s take a look.  If the airplane crashed and therefore the threat to our life was real, then why were some of us not afraid to fly?  Does fear then serve to protect only some of us and not others?  And if the airplane did not crash and there was no reality to our fear, why then did some of us experience fear of flying?  What was our fear protecting us from?

Ok, you may say, in that case our fear was imaginary.  But, what does it mean, fear is imaginary?  Why would anyone want to imagine being afraid?  Ok, you might say, perhaps it is not the fear we imagine, perhaps it is the threat we imagine, based on our fear.  Good point.  But, what causes us to imagine a threat that’s not real?  What causes us to be afraid in the first place?

Looking at the above examples, we can clearly see that in some cases we can experience fear in spite of any real threat, whereas in other cases we may be facing a real threat and not experience any fear at all.  So, if the threat itself is not causing us to be afraid, then what is? And is our fear real or imaginary?

I venture to say that fear is real.  After all, it is an emotion, and emotions are real.  If we feel them, we feel them.  We really feel fear, even if we can’t justify it.  I mean, how do we imagine feeling fear, right?  Perhaps the better question is why do we feel fear?

Based on my years of experience I have come to learn that fear is very closely related to our past pain.  I mean, how do we know to be afraid of something unless we have experienced pain there before?  Take a child, for example, who may be completely fearless around a stove, until it burns its hand.  Afterward, the same child will experience fear around touching the stove.  Isn’t this what happens to us when we have our heart broken, when we are rejected, when we are judged and persecuted, or when we experience physical pain, like perhaps falling off a bike?

I know, you want me to explain the fear of flying.  After all, if you had crashed with an airplane, you wouldn’t be alive to experience any fear of flying.  So, why do some of us experience it?  Well, I venture to say that you probably have crashed with an airplane, but it happened in another lifetime.  This brings up the question of past lifetimes, which may very well be a question in your mind, but is not a question in mine.  Over the course of many years of healing work I have witnessed many fears experienced by my clients in present time that originated from pain they have experienced in other lifetimes.

As such, feeling fear has nothing to do with the reality of a threat in present time.  Our fear is based on our past.  The only basis fear has in our present is that the circumstances may look similar to that of our past.  In fact, our fear can very much distort our perception of our present, because while it may look similar it may not be the same at all.  And we tend to project our past onto our present.  I venture to say that our fear is real, because it is based on real pain.  However, the present time danger may not be real at all.

Fear is a big part of our very primitive survival mechanism.  It is based on the probability that we may experience pain under similar circumstances as we have in our past.  All pain, by the way, is considered anti survival, no matter if physical, mental or emotional.  This is just how primitive our survival mechanism is.  It doesn’t differentiate between a potentially life threatening situation and one where the perceived threat is mental or emotional.  Is it any wonder that according to statistics our fear of public speaking can be greater than that of dying?  And just how well is fear aiding in our survival?  Let’s take a look.

Perhaps you have heard or even experienced how fear can paralyze us, or cause us to hesitate in crucial moments, or cause us to place unjustified judgements on people or situations.  Imagine a police officer hesitating using his or her gun when being shot at.  Imagine feeling paralyzed standing in the doorway while facing a bear, when what is called for is to act quickly, step back and close the door.  Imagine someone panicking under water as they are being dunged over and over, and because they are panicked they keep trying to come up for air in the same place.  On the other hand, if they were not panic stricken they might swim out a foot or two and would be able to come up for air.  Imagine being falsely accused because of someone’s fear.  How many of us have been accused of witch craft and persecuted in our past lifetimes because of our psychic or healing abilities, because someone was afraid of our powers?  And how well did the accuser fair when killing the very person that could help him heal?  Imagine one partner falsely accusing the other of cheating out of fear of being betrayed, destroying the relationship in the process.

What about all those times when we experience fear in the wake of no threat?  How is fear serving us then?  How about when it is part of our soul’s purpose to speak in public, and because of our fear we rather forgo living an inspired life?   How about when we meet our soul mate, and because of our fear of a possible heart break, we bypass the love of our life?  How about when we’re guided to the person who can help us most on our spiritual path, and then we second guess ourselves, preventing ourselves from getting the help we need?  How about when we forgo investing in ourselves out of fear of not having enough, and ultimately prevent ourselves from having all the abundance we deserve?  How about when our fear prohibits us from leaving our house, driving our car, or flying an airplane?  We may be surviving, but are we thriving?  Are we living the life we are meant to live?

Perhaps then the more important question is, should we allow our fear to guide our actions?  A shaman once taught me that we should never allow our emotions to guide us.  Our emotions are far too temporary and volatile to be a dependable guide.  The purpose of our emotions is to express.  Our actions and decisions should be guided by our spirit, our higher self, which knows the bigger picture, is the source of our inner power and love, and always has our highest good in mind.

So, how do we get past the fear factor?

First and foremost, it helps to recognize when we are coming from a place of fear.  If we are experiencing fear, anxiety, panic, stress, anger or any other upsetting emotions, surely we are subconsciously connected to our unresolved past, and our perception of our present time may be skewed.  At the same time, we can’t be connected to our inner power and love.  However, if we are emotionally neutral about a situation, we can safely assume that we have a clear connection to our higher self.  Spirit shows up as a sense of knowing.  It doesn’t come attached with emotions.

Recognizing which place we are coming from, we can make better choices.  We can choose not to act from a place of fear, where we don’t see clearly.  In the case of fear urging us to act, we can choose not to act.  We can choose to postpone making any major decisions.   In the case of fear preventing us from taking action, we can choose to feel the fear and do it anyway.  I’m not saying that this is easy.  This may not be easy at all, depending on the intensity of your fear, which is directly related to the intensity of your past pain.  This is, by the way, where spiritual blocks come from.  They can be very powerful.  You may or may not be able to overcome your fear by shear will power.

But we can overcome our fear by smart power.  Here is the secret to overcoming fear.  We have to heal our past pain, the source of our fear.  In the absents of pain there is no fear.  Given the same situation that had us tied up in knots before, we can now confront it completely unfazed and remain connected to our inner power and love.  And unlike fear, our spirit will always steer us correctly.

You don’t have to keep living with fear!  Spiritual healing is the answer.  Spiritual healing is about transformation, transformation of our unresolved past pain into wisdom.  Healing our pain also helps us rise vibrationally into the higher dimensions.  Pain is generally heavy on the soul.  Thus when transformed into wisdom we feel lighter.   This is why now, during ascension, is such a crucial time for us to heal.  We are now more than ever before supported to do just that.

If you would like help in this area, please contact me for an appointment at 303.638.2696.