Anya Sophia Mann

Fear

by Anya Sophia Mann

Can you feel it? The fear that is everywhere right now?

It feels to be everywhere this thing called fear. It is in the eyes of many as you travel about your day. Your body can sense it. Your eyes can see it. We are all feeling some version of it.

There are two fears we have when we are born. Fear of loud noises and fear of falling. You can see it in the startle reflex of a baby when the arms flail open if the baby is moved to fast, or when there is a loud noise.  Falling and loud noises represent the unknown.  The "what is it?" and "what is happening?" aren't even a conscious thought at the time, it appears that it is a reaction in the body to the unknown.

Unchecked fear can range from a startle reflex at one end of the spectrum, to where we are frozen at the other. Paralyzed in time and space. Flight or fright. The reaction to fear can soon spread from an individual to the collective of a small group, community, country, and even our world.  So how each individual handles fear becomes vital to us all! 

Our relationship to, and with, fear must become conscious or fear will run us, as an emotion. We can be taken hostage by fear if we don't become conscious with it. What that can look like is questioning the feeling of fear. Look around you, is there really something threatening you like a tiger in the wild, and you are a gazelle? If not, begin breathing consciously to start relaxing your body. Find a moment of gratitude, because in another situation that fear would have alerted you and saved your life. 

We now live in a world that is becoming fearful because or our disconnection from self, which results in the many acts of terrorism, in all forms, currently being acted out. If someone wanted to control the collective of humanity, the way to do it  would be to instil fear. That is a big invitation to you to shift into freedom from fear! 

When a fear response happens to you, or to those around you, check in.  Question it, be with it consciously in relaxed alertness. Whether in person, or watching something on the news, do not join the potential 'hostage situation' of fear. Instead, notice your body's reaction and breathe deeply to bring conscious awareness to the situation, through YOU. Choose today to make friends with fear and treat it for what it is: a healthy warning system built within your nervous system!

Use your consciousness either to be forewarned that something is directly threatening your existence (like falling of the edge of a cliff) or to be alert and present enough to recognize that it's an old reaction to something that's not happening in this moment. For example, maybe your Dad jammed on the brakes to avoid an accident when you were a small child, and now you overreact and startle whenever you're a passenger and the driver simply applies the brakes in normal traffic situations.

Practice taking a big gulp of air.  Hold your breath while noticing what you're feeling in your body, and then gently, slowly, slowly, release. Controlling your breath as you gently breath out.  Do this several times each day and you will begin to release any stored up fear in your body. This allows a relaxed alertness to return in the moment, instead of the hyper-vigilance that so many people are currently walking around with.

There is a beautiful saying that I take personally, actively: "Peace begins with me." I offer you my peaceful response in the world, as a way of calming the collective fear of humanity. 

Will you join me in my practice of peace?

Be in Peace.

Anya

Anya Sophia Mann,  Author, Coach and Speaker.