Why do we sometimes feel frozen, deadened, blah? How do our days feel monotonous and repetitive, rinse, wash, repeat, like living Groundhog Day?
Often, we freeze in fear, run away from people/situations that scare us. We’re afraid of risks, upsetting someone, the unknown, failing and being embarrassed, or even succeeding. The list is long. And because we fear being afraid, we shut down, numb our feelings, play it safe, and don’t take risks. We mute our aliveness.
Wanna tap your aliveness more fully?
Pay attention to the aliveness suppressor–your fear.
Actually, fear is not the problem, but our fear of fear and not knowing how to channel fear into alive, effective action.
Make Friends with Your Fear
It helps to understand your fear and its function—to keep you alive. The natural flight, fight, freeze responses can be harnessed if you make friends with your fear.
“Friends with my fear?” you say.
Yes! All your fear wants to do is protect you. But it can be an overprotective parent. Like a caged lion, life is pushing for release and expression in us all the time. It never stops clawing at the cage of our limiting beliefs. We are always on the cusp of a next level of aliveness and this is where we make friends with our fear—safely!
Think of a rollercoaster—a place where we feel safe enough to embrace our fear and express extreme aliveness.
This week, ride the rollercoaster of life!
Catch urges or impulses that you otherwise hold back. Be an uninhibited kid. Skip down the sidewalk. Blurt out opinions. Tell how you really feel when people ask. Speak up in that meeting. Express as much as you dare. Note the fear of judgments that arise when you do these things. Notice your aliveness spike when you express it!
You are venturing into the exciting land of fear and authenticity. It’s time to experiment and practice having fun stepping into the scary actions—into the possible you.
Elizabeth Tuazon, LiveWright Director of Coaching and Curriculum Development, challenged herself: “I followed an urge to vulnerably express some of my deep loneliness around motherhood with my partner. I didn’t know how he would respond. Would he feel hurt and start a fight? Try to shut me down by solving the ‘problem?’ Thank me for sharing? My heart was pounding, but I was so hungry to have him be more with me. Plus, I was tired of shutting down and putting on a mask.” His appreciative response made me love him all the more.
Your turn!
Step into your fear of the unknown this week and share with us what you learn.
P.S. Want more inspiration on aliveness in the meantime?
Read about aliveness in Beyond Time Management, Business with Purpose by Bob, pages 123-128.
P.P.S. Tap your aliveness on a discovery call with Bob or Judith.