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Overcoming Fear & Worry

How do you overcome fear and worry? This is something we all experience in different degrees from time to time. It’s much easier to overcome once you understand how awareness and the mind works. 

Let’s look at a simple view of time. You have the past, you have the present (which is now), and the future. This is a very simplified way of looking at time. Worry and fear only exist in the future. You cannot worry about anything in the past; it has already happened. But you can be concerned or fearful of the consequences that may take place in the future. Fear and worry are future-based. Fear and worry is awareness leaving the present moment, going into the future, creating a situation that has not happened, and coming back to the present and worrying about it.

I’ll tell you a story that my guru shared with me. When he was seven years old in 1934 up in Lake Tahoe, his family was coming back in their car, and it was snowing heavily. He was worried that he would miss his favorite radio program called Captain Midnight. Back then, if you missed your favorite radio show, there was no internet to listen to it again. Sitting in the car, with heavy snow falling, he was thinking, “I’m going to miss my show, we’re going to get stuck in the snow, I’m not going to get home in time to listen to my radio show.” Then he saw what was happening in his mind. He saw his awareness going into the future and creating a situation in his mind where they had gotten stuck in the snow. Then he saw his awareness come back to the present and begin worrying about something that had not happened yet.

He asked himself, “Are we stuck in the snow?” The answer was no. “Are we still moving?” Yes. “Am I still on schedule to get home to watch my show?” Yes. So, what am I worried about? 

He said to himself, “I am all right, right now,” 

That’s a beautiful affirmation to say every time you’re fearful or worried. Say to yourself, “I am all right, right now.”

But to understand and overcome fear and worry, you have to understand awareness and the mind. Fear and worry are based on the fact that awareness is leaving the present moment, going into the future in your head, creating a situation that has not happened, and coming back to the present, and worrying about that or fearing that. Every time awareness goes into the future in an uncontrolled way and creates a situation in your mind that is not wholesome, bring it back to the present and say, “I’m not going to let it do this.” That’s why you want to develop concentration and willpower so you can control where awareness goes in your mind. It’s okay to let awareness go into the future as long as it goes into the future to think about things in a very positive way or to find solutions to potential problems.

My Unwavering Focus course teaches you how awareness and the mind works. It also teaches you how to control awareness in the mind and build a very sustainable practice for doing so. It’s not about changing for a day or two. It’s about creating a permanent shift in our mind. A new permanent habit where you are in charge of awareness and as a result not succumb to fear and worry. 

Learn more and sign up for my Unwavering Focus course. Make 2024 a worry and fear free year!