If you ever wake up in the morning and feel a contraction or sense of dread in your body you are not alone. This is the clench of the survival self who believes that he has to manage his life and make it all work out. This is the human being who dreads getting up and facing another day of work pressure and social demands. It’s the one who just wants to rest but can’t find the time. It’s the grip of trying to get through one more damn day of bills, bad news, bad relationships, vigilance, suppressed emotions and exhaustion. It’s the tension of protecting and pretending. It’s the contraction of the human being who doesn’t know the peace that is here in this present moment. The one who hasn’t experienced the wide-open and compassionate embrace of his Beloved and True Nature. He has lost touch with his aliveness and his authenticity. She has lost touch with her heart.
The survival self is run on fear. It may not always look like it but if you peel back the layers of the unawake human you will always find fear. Fear is a clench in the system. You can discover where fear lives in you, simply notice the next time you open an unexpected large bill or someone rejects you and see what tightens in your body. That tightness has a voice and it’s the voice of fear. We are pummeled daily by the voice of fear. Tension grows in the neck and shoulders. The belly cramps and churns and the heart beats much faster than it should. This invisible taskmaster that is driving us lives in each of us. The solutions we come up with while we are under its spell end up feeding its insatiable demands. These messages leave us more and more exhausted and empty. Move faster, get more, change your hair, change your body, change your relationship, become more popular, more successful and buy more things. And most importantly don’t acknowledge how much pain you are in.
WHAT have we done?? What have we done to our most precious and beautiful Self? We have almost succeeded in driving her into the ground.
Next time you experience the fear clench just sit there and instead of engaging in fear thoughts just allow yourself to open. This takes practice because our conditioning to move away from fear and pain is strong. You can thank the fear for working so hard to protect you and gently open to what is much more vast than the fear contraction. Notice the space around you and open to that. Notice the sounds in the background. Listen to the hum of existence. Notice your breath. Simply notice it all. Bring your hand to where the fear lives in you and provide gentle reassurance. It’s really ok sweetheart. I’ve got this…
You will see that fear is a small contraction in a vast and unconditional Universe. You are not that tight and restricted contraction. That tight and restricted contraction lives in you. Let fear soften and return to its benevolent and true nature. It doesn’t mean that you won’t pay your bills or do what you’re here to do but it does mean that you will recognize that fear is not a good life-manager. My wish for you is that today, just for one moment, you will stop and let yourself open to what has always been here…always supporting you…always loving you and just let down. Just completely let down!
“The mind has its own image of what is supposed to be, which has nothing to do with the way things are really.” – Neelam
As a gift to your nervous system I invite you to join me for my Free Online Weekly Gathering: A Resting Place
“One of the most simple and beautiful practices I have ever been privileged to participate in.” ~ Participant
Love,
Candace
All of Candace’s services are Trauma, PTSD, Complex Grief, Chronic Illness and Benzo withdrawal symptom sensitive.