A Meditation Visualization to Overcome Your Fears
When I was first saw this photo I was immediately reminded of a scenario I heard several years ago – and thought it a good opportunity to explore the concept of fear. (The full photo is below)
Take the journey with me, and imagine this scenario as you read.
Imagine that you have just moved into a new house. It’s a single story house on a large grassy block of land. The construction is not completely finished, so there are a few scattered bits of building material and debris strewn around the place.
It’s Sunday morning and although the sun is now shining, it has rained heavily all night. You are dressed in your casual clothes and as you open your front door, about to take a leisurely stroll around your new neighborhood, you see that the heavy rain has turned the patch of your freshly laid turf at the bottom of your front steps into a soggy boggy mess. Shock horror!
There is no other way to get to the road – you must cross this squishy pit of mud.
As you scratch your head and look down at your favorite white walking shoes, you spy a plank of wood leaning against the wall that is just the right length to cross the bog. Perfect.
Awkwardly you manage to lift the plank of wood and stretch out from the bottom step to direct it across the bog. As it lands it squelches in the mud. You steady yourself on the wall and place one foot on the plank. It’s solid and at least twice as wide as your shoe. You are confident you will not slip-off and fall in the mud by accident. If you fall off the plank it’s your own doing. It’s not very far to the other side, but still, you are slightly nervous.
If you do fall off – your shoes will get filthy. They may even get stuck in the mud and make you fall on your bottom. Worst case scenario you might have to crawl out on your hands and knees and hope your new neighbors aren’t looking out their window.
You take a few deep breaths, center your energy, tell yourself that you can do it, and drumroll please… walk across the plank quite easily. You start your walk and wonder why you even held slight reservations… Of course you could do it!
But it rains again that night, and as you open the door on Monday morning running slightly late for work, dressed to impress in your new outfit, you must again walk the plank across the bog. You know you can do it easily, but ‘the worst that can happen‘ this time is worse than yesterday.
This outfit is expensive – and if you fall you will surely be late for work and need to explain to everybody why.
You take a few deep breaths, believe that you can do it, and walk across the plank quite easily. Of course you could do it!
Now it’s Tuesday morning. There was more rain last night. The boggy swamp is still a boggy swamp. As you cautiously look to see if any alligators have taken up residence, you see that the builders have been busy. They have raised the plank so that the grass can dry out underneath. It is at least 3-feet off the ground and runs to a saw-horse on the other side with steps down to the dry grass.
Again you’re wearing expensive clothes and running late – but if you fall this time you could also hurt yourself. Who has time for a broken arm? You’ve never been fond of heights… but you have walked this same plank on the previous two days. It’s just as stable now as before – the only difference now is that it’s off the ground.
Even though the task is the same – the consequences are different.
You know you can do it … but “What If?”
It takes you longer to decide. You can’t breathe as deeply as you are nervous and your muscles are tense. Your mind isn’t clear as the doubts swarm, so you don’t fully believe that you can make it.
Reluctantly you start to walk … and although you wouldn’t say it was easy, you do manage to get to the other side. Phew!
As you lay in bed that night, trying desperately to sleep, but thinking of whether you should get a brick or a concrete path in the front yard, these same thoughts fuel your dreams…
The plank is now twice the height as before…
Alligators do move into the boggy marsh and they look hungry…
A travelling game show has raised the plank higher than your house and offer to pay you $100 if you do it; or $1000; or 1 million dollars.
It’s publicized on the local radio station and there are thousands of people cheering for you.
A Hollywood blockbuster is now filming in your street and if you don’t do it you may never see you family again as they have been taken hostage and your success alone is all that can set them free!
In each scenario, the plank is always the same – but the situation changes.
You know you CAN walk across the plank – but what fear will stop you from walking, or be the one to make you fall?
Height? Embarrassment? Hurting Yourself? Responsibility? Pressure to perform? Snappy Alligators? Death?
Wouldn’t it just be easier if the un-seasonal nightly rains stopped and your grass was dry the next morning? Yes, but that’s not the point of this exercise.
You realize that even though you are dreaming – the fears are still real – even if the consequences of failure are not.
But dreaming for most is without conscious control, so walking the plank in a meditative visualization allows you to face your fears with purpose.
The story above is just to shed light on this process. Understand the task is not to replay the same encounter over and over and give yourself night-terrors; it is to make you aware that creative visualization is a tool that you can use to explore your fears.
So, what is the first fear that you will explore consciously, without consequence. Public speaking, standing up to an energy vampire, joining a new community group, trying something new, saying something that needs to be said?
Pay attention to your day to day living and look for an energy blockage. Being reluctant to do something is fine, but ‘Why are you reluctant?’
Just remember not to get stuck on the ‘What If?’ treadmill. This is a proactive meditation visualization to explore your fears. Create 15 minutes for yourself. Become aware of your breath and center your energy. Set your intent. And have a play.
Please share your thoughts below if you wish.
PLEASE NOTE: Don’t take this task literally like my window cleaning friend above. IN YOUR MIND PEOPLE! Though if you would clean a window like that on the ground floor, what is stopping you doing it 70 stories up? Oh yeah, the concrete below.
In Love and Light, We Explore!
Nigel Coates
Suggested…
Transmuting Fears Free Guided MeditationYou start walking down the corridor and are drawn to a door labeled FEAR. You know if you step inside, you are to face a fear that is holding you back … One that you are now ready to release.
Healing and Clearing MeditationsThese meditations are designed to assist you to cut the ties, build your psychic protection and offer clearing and healing of your energy and space.
Free Numerology ReadingAll you do is put in your name and your date of birth, and the very next day they send you a personalized Mini-Reading. (They call it a mini-reading, but there is HEAPS in info in there!)
Meditation Teacher TrainingStarting your own business or running your own meditation classes might not be what you have in mind, but it does demonstrate just how good this program is. Become a Meditation Expert.
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