Tuesday, June 2, 2009

A Breakout from Fear

I plan my courses pretty carefully. But when we all show up and go live the real magic begins.

Almost always, a secret unplanned theme reveals itself. Something deeper than all the fliers and emails brings us together.

Last weekend a high percentage of the participants at Rowe had experienced severe abuse in their lives.

When some people courageously explored the beliefs that still imprisoned them in a perpetual state of fear and hyper-vigilance, we discovered:

A strong desire to protect themselves, to keep safe from danger and harm
An equally strong belief that fear was the only thing that would protect them
Shame of being afraid

Therapy, courses, all sorts of attempts to overcome their fear had no effect.

Of course not! If you had been attacked and hurt and you believed fear was the only thing that protected you, would you give it up? No matter how ashamed you were of your fear, no matter how debilitating and limiting it was, if you believed it was the only way to survive nothing would take it away.

We saw something in the quiet of acceptance and the dizzy-making confusion that comes with openly exploring beliefs. You don’t need fear in order to be aware of danger. You need to be alert and aware of danger, the way you are when crossing a busy street. It does not require tense muscles, holding your breath, nightmares, and a perpetual state of fear.

Each time, their faces softened and lit up, their bodies relaxed as they embraced a brand new goal – to protect themselves with loving awareness and gratitude for a healthy built-in fight or flight response they would only need when danger threatened. Not all day and all night for the rest of their lives.

Nobody wants to live in the past. But we all live by the past. During painful times especially, we often form strong beliefs that block future happiness and success. We continue to live by those beliefs without being aware of it.

That’s why I wrote “Travelling Free.” If you or someone you know could use help to breakout out from painful experiences in the past, “Travelling Free” is now available at http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1878639048/mandyevanscom in Kindle and MobiPocket versions also.

“It’s not what happens to us but what we come to believe that shapes our lives.” –Travelling Free: How to Recover from the Past by Changing Your Beliefs" by Mandy Evans

Cheering you on to freedom from past limits.

Love,
Mandy

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YouTube "Deserving" Video:
http://tinyurl.com/ceqeos