Fear is a natural emotion for us to feel and fear can be a positive thing. The fear that stops us jumping into a river full of alligators and becoming breakfast cannot be all bad! We often talk about fears as phobias, but it’s not always true. A phobia is an irrational fear of something, but being afraid of being up high isn’t necessarily irrational, it’s self-preservation. The phobia takes the fear much farther, into irrational territory, but for most of us, this is a healthy fear. It doesn’t necessarily stop us going up high, but it gives us pause for thought. Healthy fear.
But there’s another kind of fear. This is the fear of stepping outside our comfort zone. Often, achieving our goals – the life we want, the career we want, the experiences we want – means leaving our comfort zone. The comfort zone is a lovely cozy, safe place. Like wrapping up in a fluffy blanket in front of a roaring fire, with a mug of hot chocolate on a cold winter evening. Safe, warm, cozy. But a comfort zone is not a place of growth. It’s a place to hibernate, or even to stagnate. To get those experiences, jobs, lives we want means leaving the comfort zone. And that can be a scary thought. Again, a little fear can be a healthy thing. But if that fear actually stops us leaving the comfort zone, stops us even trying for the things we want, then it’s crossed the line and it’s time to do something about it.
This mantra offers up the energy of fear (the kind that holds us back) to its highest source so that the energy can be released back to us for more positive endeavours, such as going after those dreams.
Shante prashante sarva bhaya upasha mani swaha
shan-tay prah-shan-tay sarr-vah bye-ah oop-a-shar marnee sva-hah
“Invoking supreme peace I offer the quality of fear to its source in the higher and formless universal mind. Salutations”