Fear and Change Go Hand-in-hand
Q“I am normally a very organised, positive and decisive person. But with all these massive changes going on in this world at the moment, I find myself paralysed with fear, questioning myself over and over and not being able to make decisions. I have this constant feeling of doom and anxiety hanging over me and I don’t know myself any more. Would you have any insight?” Candice, 34, Cape Town
A Dear Candice, I hear you loud and clear. This year brought a multitude of massive changes, challenges, shifts and speedbumps. The universe pretty much hit a ‘reset button’ externally and internally and, with that, everything we knew and served us as reference points, giving us a sense of control and predictability, fell away. So where you established yourself very effectively and comfortably when your world was predictable to you and you knew how to interact with it and could foresee outcomes, responses etc., this is now taken away to a great extent. The ‘old’ will never exist again in its original form; it’s about letting go of what we have outgrown, what doesn’t serve us any more (environments, jobs, relationships, thinking patterns, blueprints…) to find a new stability and a platform for growth. Fear is a very normal response to changing circumstances, especially of this magnitude and when we had very little say in it at times, our choices were very restricted and there was no consistency, routine; in short – we experienced loss of control. Fear gives you the impression of separateness and anxiety is that fear projected into the future. And that is the biggest threat for the brain; then it triggers the fight, flight or freeze response. In your case – the freeze. You are so worried about making the wrong decision that you are making NO decision; the fear game gets higher. You then start trying to get information to get some kind of footing – which makes it even worse, for it is absolutely fear-based information which is flooding the media and social network. The anxiety and fear game gets even higher.
Since mind, body and soul always work together – the ripple effect will start.
Your solar plexus chakra (personal power, self-belief and self-worth are seated here) will get out of sync and you might experience physical and mental symptoms like: Digestive issues, high acid levels, heartburn, nausea, change of eating patterns, irregular bowel movement, stomach ulcers, fatigue, diabetes, IBS, fear, anxiety, self-doubt, feeling overwhelmed and insecure…
Your root chakra (relationship with world, survival, finances, self-identification, sense of safety and security) will also be unbalanced and you might experience mental and spiritual symptoms like: Digestive tract playing up, urinary problems, bowel disorders, different muscular issues in the hips and legs, lower back pain, depression, anxiety, paranoia, mistrust, insecurity…
Since fear always overstimulates the brain even more, it will sooner or later change our sleeping patterns, for we either can’t switch our brain off or it subconsciously won’t allow us to get into the deeper sleep phases, for it perceives it as being even more vulnerable when asleep, due to response mechanisms being delayed. It also changes our breathing patterns to shallow breathing, which, once again, over activates the brain and doesn’t connect the rest of the energy centres so we could become grounded.
This is just scratching the surface of what a bugger fear really is and how it becomes the puppet master and we become the puppet. It moves us from action into reaction mode.
So looking at all of this, no wonder you feel thrown out and confused at the moment, but the good news is that, when we understand how it works and how it took over, we can consciously shift it again and get into a grounded, balanced and centred space. We created the first version, we can create the next one – that’s the power which we will always have.
So how do we do that?
· Start with making a list of the areas in which you ARE in control and trust your decisions; your success rate was pretty good so far.
· Look at what you DO want and not what you DON’T want (what we concentrate on, we get more of).
· Be very selective with what kind of information, energy, and people you allow in your energy field. Your energy field is YOUR responsibility. Don’t allow in what you don’t want there, and NO – you don’t owe negative people or situations a spot in YOUR space.
· Restrict social media.
· Practise DEEP BREATHING.
· Everything is neutral until we attach something to it – check your attachments.
· Surround yourself with a lot of yellow (solar plexus colour) and red (root chakra colour)
· Start eating at least 80 per cent healthily and do a bit of physical exercise.
· Watch your inner self-talk, be aware of it and adjust where necessary.
· Tell your brain to bugger off – time to listen to that inner voice.
· Always ask yourself if the thought, action, person, circumstance feeds you or depletes you. If it depletes you, it needs to go or at least get restricted.
· It is just change and you are totally capable of growing with it.
· Do some kind of meditating (start off with guided ones).
· Be KIND with yourself, call on your guides and guardians – you’ve got this!