Five Ways to Transform Fear
We are so used to thinking in terms of opposites – light versus darkness, hot versus cold. Yet the universe isn’t dualistic in nature. What we view as polarities are only varying degrees of the same thing, sometimes at extreme ends of a spectrum yet still a part of that spectrum. Take ‘hot versus cold’ for example – there is no boundary on your thermometer to describe exactly where ‘cold’ ends and ‘hot’ begins! This is an empowering way of looking at the world, because if we want to transmute one thing into another, it feels more possible if those two things aren’t in opposition to begin with.
Transforming fear
Fear is what gets in the way of a life fuelled by love and a life lived in the present moment. Fear arrives in the guise of anxiety, worry and discontent. It can rob us of feelings of joy and disconnect us from others around us. When we’re in fear, it can feel all consuming, too difficult to escape its effects on us and on those around us. We can feel caught in a trap of anxiety or worry.
Love, on the other hand, fosters a sense of connection and expansiveness that includes greater possibilities for healing and positive change. Take a moment to remember a time when you were consumed by fear. Remember the contraction and tension you felt through your body and mind. Now take a moment to remember feelings of love, and how that opened up your world, softening and reconnecting you to wonderful possibilities.
Yet if we consider Love to be at just the other end of the spectrum from Fear, we can begin to consider the possibility of transmuting Fear into Love. The word "transmute" means "to change from one nature, form, or substance, into another; to transform" (Webster). "Transmutation" is a term used to describe the ancient art of the transmutation of metals — particularly of the base metals into gold, in alchemy. This process is also a metaphor for the transmutation of emotional and mental states and conditions into others on the path of self-realisation.
Five daily ways to transmute fear into love
What if you could, at any given moment, remain conscious of the reality and feelings of love? So that even when anxiety and discontent begin to creep in, you could choose to stay in the field of love instead?
You are capable of doing this – it isn’t a superpower reserved for the enlightened alone. It takes a little practice, that’s all. Here are five daily ways to transmute fear into love:
1. Begin each day with love
Soon after you wake up, devote some time to meditation or to sitting in silence. Find and grow your connection to the universal presence of love. From that place, make your first interactions with others a living expression of love – leave a kind message for someone, make a family member a tea or coffee, or tend plants or animals around you.
Beginning in this way sets the tone for the rest of your day. It means that fear doesn’t have much room to take hold. The more you practise love and your connection to it, the more available it is, even in difficult moments.
2. Stay calm even when it’s uncomfortable
Life brings us plenty of opportunities to feel uncomfortable. Falling out with a friend, receiving criticism at work, being treated unfairly by a stranger – all of these situations can make you feel like lashing out or defending yourself, or running away. Next time something like this happens, try to instead simply stay in the discomfort for a while. Defer action or reaction until you have brought yourself to a clam state at least for a few moments.
Doing this will root your response in love, rather than fear, and open up the possibility of a healing interaction rather than more hurt.
3. Let go of emotions from the past
When we feel emotions, what we are feeling may be a natural response to things that are happening around us in that moment or it may be due to emotional energy stuck in our body from events in the past. This energy may have been triggered by something similar in the environment at that time, and once activated will affect our perception of what is happening.
We are essentially bringing a past dimension into the present moment. This can cause distortions in our thinking and can make us overreact or behave irrationally. All of which can have very negative effects on our relationships and on our mental health.
Emotional healing techniques such as Holographic Kinetics and breathwork can help us to let go of negative energy from the past. They can enable us to release the emotional charge from our bodies so we can be fully present in the moment. This helps us to see things more clearly and we can then respond appropriately. It enables us to open up to our natural state of love and trust. Releasing emotions is an alchemical process of transmutation that our ancient ancestors understood and practiced.
4. Be willing to be vulnerable
When you are willing to be vulnerable, even though it feels scary, you allow others around you to feel safer. From that place, your relationships become more intimate and honest. Others will respond from their vulnerable place, too, and before you know it you are sharing deeper feelings and healing any hurt between you.
5. Practise acceptance
When you are unwilling to accept how things are, or when you are not in control of how things are unfolding in your life, it’s easy to feel fear. We want to control circumstances, to feel safe, and that’s’ natural. Yet if we can bring a perspective of acceptance to what’s going on, even when it’s not what we want, we can release our expectations about how it is or will be. And when we do that, we find true freedom – to love people around us just the way they are, to remain open to the lessons life teaches us. We let go of control and experience the wisdom of a greater consciousness.
Turning towards fear as an ally
As you practise the above steps, it becomes more possible to view fear as an ally, a teacher with valuable spiritual lessons. Fear is a radical invitation to open your heart a little more, to understand that what we commonly call ‘fear’ arrives to bring you closer to wholeness and a deeper understanding of yourself and others. It is, in fact, a way of love becoming visible.
Ultimately, when you understand that fear is simply at the other end of a spectrum from love, it feels more possible to transmute feelings of anxiety and worry into the expansive, connectedness of love. We are each alchemists of our own emotions, and life offers so many chances to practise this ancient art!