I know it can get hard sometimes. Life is hard. Most everyone living on earth right now is struggling. There is an immense amount of fear on the planet, and it makes moving forward feel impossible. The fear is out in the world but also within us.
I see it; it’s trying to penetrate our own aspirations. It’s trying to ruin our days and cripple our intentions. Fear is trying to overtake us for the win.
Are you in fear? Right now, it’s everywhere, in our actions, our words, our thoughts, and, for many, in our hearts.
I’ve been struggling the past few months with my own place in the world. Wondering if what I am doing is enough. Do I even matter? If everyone is struggling and in survival mode, can anyone really hear me when I share my insights on how to be more aligned and connected to love? When there is so much pain, worry, fear, and frustration, can anyone really find the light?
My heart is heavy with the question, “How can we make a difference in a world that is so trapped in pain, stuck in fear, and saturated in struggle?”
The easy answer is to come together, but fear is so prevalent we are stuck in separation. Most feel hopeless. Many want to give up. For the majority, fear is getting the best of us.
I’m not going to tell you to choose love over fear. I’m not going to say the light is here, find it, because when you are in the thick of the darkness this concept is foreign. We can’t hear what we don’t understand.
In this trying time, we have a choice. I am not going to tell you the choice to make but simply remind you that
We always have a choice, and thinking we don’t is indeed a choice.
Many of us learn through struggle, but trusting fear is where we fall into a slippery slope. You see, fear causes separation. Fear creates anxiety. Fear manipulates us into depression and loneness and it can cause diseases. Fear robs us of our dreams. Here’s the thing about fear itself: it is harmless, it is not to be feared, but the detrimental sidekick of fear is our attachment to it and the faith we put into it.
If we didn’t trust the fear, if we didn’t lean into it and give it all our power, it would have no bearing on anything. So our choice is to take our attention off of it. Our choice is to remove ourselves from the fear-based thoughts and transform them into more compassion, kindness, and love.
The thing about problems is they love our attention. Problems manifest more problems. When we focus on them they will always grow. And by focusing so much on the problems in our own life and in the world, we have lost focus on what really matters: our relationships. Those with loved ones and the relationship with ourselves. We fail to see the good in the world, and in our neighborhoods and in our homes. The good is their when you look for it.
Choosing fear, this is a choice.
When this happens we are letting fear win. But your life and those you love are far too precious to just allow yourself to settle in fear. You can rise up by choosing to be more courageous with your own heart.
The question becomes, how do we turn away from fear?
The answer: We start by asking better questions.
What is it you want?
So many of us feel selfish for going after we want, especially when there are people dying and crying and starving and wars and refugees and … the list of pain on the planet is never ending, but remember…
When you choose to show up for yourself you are raising the vibration on the planet. You are doing your part to reduce the amount of negativity and harm by first choosing to love and care for you.
Caring for yourself means you honor yourself and the dreams in your heart. It must start with you and within you, there is no other way. The key to moving past fear is to be more true to yourself.
We are in so much fear because we have separated ourselves from love; we have shied away from the light we all carry within. The fix is right there inside of you, because you my lovely are made of love.
You may be thinking “What if we are too stuck in fear and just trying to make it through the day? My dreams don’t matter when there are more important issues to address right now.”
This seems to be the collective consciousness of most people right now. We are all in survival mode. Our fear voice chimes in, “How dare you put yourself first or go after your dreams when you can barely even make it through the day?”
But the truth, is that having and going for our dreams is not a luxury. We all need food, shelter, and security, but within these needs there is our own heart, and our heart has desires that are inspired by love. And your goals, your desires and dreams, when inspired by the heart and love are as important as breathing because they are the signatures to your fulfillment in life. And we are here to live our life, not just survive but thrive.
We are alive, but we get to choose—do we really want to live?
Following your heart and showing up for yourself is the most profound way you can move through fear. Fear will always be on the planet, but the attention we give it can change.
You have the power to rise up and show this world more kindness by first being kind to yourself and those you love.
Trust the inspiration that comes to you, follow the inner guidance and soon you will see your world change, and this will impact the world in beautiful ways.
So don’t run from your pain; don’t hide out and let it consume you. Use it to motivate you forward. Let it be your guide into what you don’t want. Choose to live your life with more purpose and love. Choose to rise above with the love in your heart.
The Self-Love Experiment Book
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If you liked this article you can go deeper with Shannon Kaiser’s new book The Self-Love Experiment: Fifteen Principles for Becoming More Kind, Compassionate, and Accepting of Yourself.