Repost: "Jump the Fear Shark!"

Fear. It is perhaps the most crippling of all the so-called "negative" human emotions. Why? Well, first of all, ninety-nine percent of our fears are irrational. Right. That's a lot of crazy time. Nonetheless, it's true that most of our fears are a reaction not to any actual danger in the moment, but to possible dangers in a vague possible future. As a result, our ability to react flexibly to normal life situations in the present is greatly inhibited by irrational fears. They sap our energy levels and create tunnel vision, literally and figuratively. In addition, since the human psyche is always trying to self-correct, cleanse and heal itself of negative emotions caused by negative thoughts, we will end up attracting events that seem to meet the criteria of our worst fears in order to work them through.

Here's the Pathwork Guide, channeled by Eva Broch, saying it quite eloquently:

"As long as you have fear, it is sometimes inevitable that you experience what you fear in order to lose the fear. If fear can be shed by realizing the truth that there is no reason to fear, then it is not necessary to experience it. But you are often incapable of this insight, so you must familiarize yourself with the feared circumstances until they lose their threatening aspect."

Yes. This is one of the driving forces behind the "repetition compulsions" so many suffer from, those patterns of going through the same painful situations or relationships over and over. What the Guide is saying above is that part of the "goal" of the repetitions is to neutralize the fear of the situation being repeated. (That reminds me that in the 1970's, I had to watch "Jaws" about a dozen times before I was finally convinced that Roy Scheider actually killed that damn fish! And then, to top it off, that same summer, I finally got back in the water on an East Hampton beach to test myself in the ocean. True story. Yep. Refreshed and confident from a round of body surfing, I swam ashore to find... a dead shark on the beach!! YOW!!!)

There's more. If your motivations for the good things of life that you desire are covertly or overtly fear-based, you will again be thwarting yourself.

The Guide:

"As long as you want the positive mainly because you fear the negative, your fear barricades the way to the positive. If you want happiness because you fear unhappiness, happiness remains unreachable. If you want happiness for its own sake, and not because you fear its absence, nothing will block its attainment. And this is an enormous difference.

"Every aspect of living follows this principle. If you desire health in a spirit of fearing sickness, you prevent health. If you fear the aging process, you prevent eternal youth. If you fear poverty, you prevent abundance. If you fear loneliness, you prevent real companionship. If you fear companionship, you prevent self-containment. So it goes on and on."

This is why "positive affirmations" and other meditations meant to bring abundance don't work for so many people. (It was also kind of left out of "The Secret" DVD and book that so many millions latched onto. The producers sort of neglected to mention that in order to use the Laws of Attraction positively, you first have to surface and clear out the negative beliefs and intentions hidden below the surface of consciousness.)

The Guide again:

"The great enemy is fear, and the best way to meet and conquer this enemy is first to ascertain, admit, and articulate it."

In other words, folks, don't have fear of your fears. See them, embrace them, then challenge their validity, and finally exhale them out of your life and make room for abundance.

Then, you can jump the shark, too.