by Emily Joy White

Created on: March 26, 2010

Letting go of fear is difficult, but with a little understanding of human emotions, it can be achieved.  Human emotions can be distilled down to two general categories-love and fear.  To even simplify love and fear, think of love as "yes" and fear as "no".  There are many shades of these two emotions which we all experience.  For example hatred is a shade of fear and graditude is a shade of love. 

Emotions are feelings brought on by your thoughts.  Your thoughts are powerful energy that trigger electronic and chemical responses in the body.  Try sitting quietly, breathing in deeply for a few breaths, and then softly saying or just thinking the word y-e-s repeatedly.  Say the word with kindness, then with emphasis, then with giddiness - say the word with as many positive emotions as you can think of.  Return to your quiet state and notice how your body feels.  Do you feel warm, safe, happy, relaxed?  Now try the same experiment using the word n-o.  Say no to yourself repeadedly, say it with emotion, say it with emphasis, say it quietly, and then return to your quiet state.  How does the body feel now? Do you notice a discomfort in the abdomen region, are you tense or irritable?  Which body state do you prefer-the yes body or the no body?

The job of every human being is to stay in love.  That does not mean romantic love, but the love experienced in the "yes" body.  Every event we experience in life offers us a chance to choose.  We can choose fear or love, yes or no.  We can choose to respond in anger or we can respond with compassion.  Someone may cheat you or otherwise cause you conflict.  The animal instinct (which we all possess) will bring out the fight or flight response.  While humans are animals, we are the only animals in the kingdom in which God provided a consciousness.  We can use our consciousness to choose our response.  We can respond to conflict with compassion and try to determine what is driving the person causing the conflict.  We can learn to listen and see at a deeper level.  Living in a state of love gives others permission to do the same.  It is a powerful state!

Life is fast paced here on Earth and fear is all around us, constantly.  The news is dreadful:  bad economy, wars, gangs, gas prices, Republicans hating Democrats, home foreclosures, CEOs raping the public, and on and on.  The noise of the world can easily drown out the quiet peace of love which makes it easy to forget that we always have a choice to choose love over fear.  Fear seems real and love appears to be completely unrealistic.  The economy stinks and yet there is a choice?  Really?  Giving into fear only puts your body in a chemical state to be set up for disease, destruction and more fear.  Pulling away from fear is difficult, but with practice and hours spent in meditation and contemplating that which is good and lovely, and giving thanks, you can experience love.  The more time spent in experiencing love, the more one comes to know their Higher Self. 

The quest of the human experience of life is to know the Higher Self.  All life experiences are leading us to this knowing.  Life's painful lessons are often the hard push needed to initiate or intensify the search.  Knowing the Higher Self brings peace and joy and serenity that come from knowing that we are one with God.  In Him we live and move and have our being.  In Him all things are possible.

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