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Be Gentle With Fear
BE GENTLE WITH FEAR
Be gentle with fear. It is a child of the unknown. It has travelled light years to find you.
Do not be afraid to feel it fully. It will not harm you. Let it come closer, let it penetrate you if it must.
Feel its aliveness, its pounding heart, its vibrations and tingles in the body. Until there is no division between 'self' and 'fear'. Until you cannot call it 'fear' at all. Until there is only life, raw and immediate, and nameless, and benevolent.
Fear is a breaking open into the unknown, a shattering of certainties. It is the forging of a new path into the vastness of night. It is the thrill of being awake.
Fear reminds you that you live on the edge of mystery. That you drink from the fountain of possibility. That your being is vast. That only the false can die.
Do not push your fear away, or label it 'negative' or 'unspiritual'. Do not pretend it is not there. Do not rush to delete it, or transform it, or even heal it. It is not an enemy, and not a mistake. It holds great intelligence and healing power. It is ancient and wise. Bow before it.
Let fear be fear, fully itself. But do not be afraid. Let the body shake, let the heart quake. And know that you are present. And opening, and opening.
Let fear, so misunderstood, come to rest in your vast heart. Let it walk with you. When it feels unwanted, hold it close.
Standing on the threshold, you take those first steps into the void.
You are shaking but you are so damn alive.
- Jeff Foster
Ethiopia
I have just returned from a week in Ethiopia . I was talking at a Women's Empowerment Conference , helping women see that they have a purpose in life and helping them feel empowered and fulfilled . These women came from all over Ethiopia and many had to travel for a couple of days to get to Addis Ababa and half of the women came from Addis. They came from different tribes and had very different lives from one another
So many of the women we saw had deeply suffered , they had been abused or raped and suffered other deeply traumatic events and virtually all of them were grieving in one way or another .
I wanted them to find a way to let go of some of their pain, and instead see what amazing powerful, resilient women they are.
And to see how their sheer resourcefulness and power, grows through adversity and that they will grow through healing their trauma.
There is a choice in being a victim or a survivor and I want them all to be strong survivors and to remember that your past does not equal your future. What has happened has happened, and we need to find a way to let it go of it and move on.
I had gone there to offer something to them and came away feeling in awe of their love and their resilience . I was so touched by them .
The End Of Lack
THE END OF LACK
Stop comparing yourself with other people.
Take your focus off what they have. Their success. Their happiness. Their wonderful relationships. Their acheivements. Their abundance.
When you compare, you experience lack, envy; resistance to you, where you are, what you have. You feel far from where you should be, far from home, far from life.
But life is here; life is never far away. Take your attention off others, and invite it closer, to where you are, to the breath, the sensations in the body. Feel your connection with the earth, your rootedness in presence. Allow yourself to feel what you feel - sadness, anger, even despair. Let these ancient guests move through today. You didn't create them and it's not your job to get rid of them.
You are not a fixed 'person' in time and space, but a vessel, a present capacity for every thought, every feeling, every hope, every dream, every wave of sorrow and bliss.
Your abundance lies in your breath, friend, your closeness to earth, your originality, your open heart, your ability to laugh at the seriousness of this world.
You are vast, and beyond compare.
- Jeff Foster