Exercises For Coping With Fear

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Fear, not hate, is the opposite of love. Isn’t that ironic? One lesson ACIM teaches is that “The opposite of love is fear, but what is all-encompassing can have no opposite…”

How many times have we told someone we hated them, when in fact we feared them? And why? Because we didn’t know how to love ourselves in a better way, to appreciate ourselves, to believe in ourselves, to accept the fact that we are not individuals but part of a whole universe.

Truly, it is hard to trust our innermost basic instincts. That little small “mini-me” pops up next to us, posing all these questions and doubting every positive idea and feeling we have. It has a mind of its own.

In fact, we live three-quarters of our life afraid. This is how we were raised, if not by our parents, then by school, society, or peer pressure. It might be any silly thing. Maybe you feel you aren’t supposed to fail at anything, from failing to do your homework to failing in school, in life, in work….even the word “fail” has very heavy resonance, just reading it.

Well, it is ok to be afraid, but it is not ok to let fear control our lives and our journeys. Some ways to start changing this pattern of behaviour are to learn how to love ourselves completely, to truly believe that we are not alone, to feel that we are already complete, and to feel at one with every single atom in the universe.

Some exercises can help us in our times of “fearfulness,” which again means when we are in the state opposite to love:

• The first step is to accept the idea that when we are not feeling positive, loving, and happy, that means we are in our “fear” state.
• The second step is to close our eyes, rub our hands together, and then put our palms over our closed eyes. You will feel particles all around you. That’s you in the universe: acknowledge that you are it.
• In the third step, let yourself go into your palms, into those particles, into that space, and enjoy that sensation.
• In the fourth step, once you have enjoyed filling yourself with this energy, repeat positive affirmations, such as: I am beautiful and perfect. I am love. I am one with the universe. And so on.
• In the fifth step, when you are done, light a candle. Make a promise to yourself that you will try to maintain this positive state for as long as the candle is shining. You will be surprised to find that it will last even longer than that, and then you can repeat the exercise again until your loving state of oneness has united with you.

Suggested reading: “Fear” by Osho