Exercise Nine

March 16th, 2006

Refer to Dr. Hawkins, Office Series on Anxiety

Releasing the Fear of Fear

Fear is a minor event going in the greater experience of my 'self'. It can be attached to anything. What seems to interfere with letting go of fear is the difficulty in managing the fear of fear. Erasing a specific fear may be useful, but it does not alter who you believe you are. This exercise is about removing the apprehension about the feelings of fear so that fear is easily handled.

The practice of releasing fear is most potent. As a teenager, Ramana Maharshi, who became a great saint of India, was compelled to imagine his imminent death. When he did so, he was able to deeply and essentially let go of his fears about dying, and became 'at one' with God.

EXERCISE

Tell yourself that you are the source of the fear. Recall that in a different mood, you are less likely to feel the fear. Consider your response when walking alone down a dark city street versus walking down same street with a group of friends. Often sailors do not know how to swim and yet are unafraid of sailing. They view the boat as their safety. With very little introspection you will realize that you do indeed respond differently to the same situations, depending on their context. So how a situation is perceived must come from within your thought system. Let us address the fear where it is, in mind.

• Invite the help of the Divine.
• Think about and bring to mind some thing or event that elicits the feelings of fear and once the feelings arise, totally ignore the thoughts about this situation, instead focus on the fear.
• Map and take note of each feeling as it is expressed in your body.
• Now ask yourself whether you can handle these symptoms of fear…tight stomach, butterflies, dry mouth, rubbery feeling in the knees, whatever they are, ask of each one, "Can I handle this feeling?" Remind yourself that in your life you have handled much more difficult things than butterflies in your stomach. Doing this allows the energy of the feeling to be expressed out of your body, without you judging that this 'feeling' or 'energy' is good or bad. You are just letting it run. You have decided you can handle it.
• Now, by doing this, by making the feeling 'non specific' by ignoring the thoughts that arise around the situation, you automatically step back from the sensation, you move beyond the feelings, to their source; the consciousness field (100) out of which the energy of fear is coming.
• Continue to ignore the thoughts and do not attach significance to the feelings. Watch them, just like you watch your mind. Because you are not resisting them, the feelings will become less specific, more diffuse. The emotion of fear dissolves when you release and let it drain out.
• The fear drains away when we stop labeling it as fear and stop resisting the feeling of the emotion. Fear drains away when we focus instead on the field of energy behind the fearful thought. Discharge the feel and the energy and you lose the fear of fear. You then teach yourself that fear is nothing but an inner experience, an experience of consciousness. It is you that have put the judgment of it on this emotion.
• So to handle fear, or any emotion, we must:
• a) look away from the events in the world;
• b) ignore the thoughts about the events;
• c) focus on your feelings;
• d) describe individual feelings to yourself; ask can I handle this?
• e) do not label them; let them feel how they feel;
• f) do not resist the feeling;
• g) focus on the generalized rather than the specific sensations - the field of fear
• h) just allow the sensations drain out; let go of labeling the emotion as fear, allow the energy to be and drain out, without resisting it.

Letting go of resisting the feelings, by observing and letting go of them at their source, literally disengages you from the field of fear. This is how to handle emotion. It is here at the source that you lose the fear of emotion. You have stripped fear of its power over you.

You have freed yourself to choose a preferable field of consciousness such as love, peace and joy (540).

For additional helpful information on releasing emotion see the Supplement to Exercise Nine.