I was recently talking with a friend whose life circumstances had thrown him into a deep panic. His business went unexpectedly into crisis with some abrupt departures of managers and lost contracts.
I could see that some unexpected events had thrown things in his life very off-plan, and that this resulted a number of real challenges. I could also see a capable being surrounded by many resources who would, undoubtedly, get through the situation rather quickly and rest on the other side. But he could see none of this: his deep panic buttons had been activated. His experience was that he was not up to the task and that everything was at risk.
Deep panic is about feeling profoundly vulnerable, threatened, at risk. If we dive into those feelings, if we are simply present to our experience without judgment or avoidance (that’s the hard part!), we will move through it. On the other side, we’ll have learned we aren’t vulnerable in the way we thought we were. We’ll find a sense of safety that it includes, incorporates, the formerly terrifying situation.
I’m not talking about learning that “what does not kill us makes us stronger,”or that by working with all our might through hard times, we can get through something.
I’m talking about moving through the illusion that we are vulnerable to a thousand monsters of the world, and coming home to the truth of our actual strength. That when we lean into and accept what’s in front of us – we become strong and powerful and pliant and resilient just in that act.
Accessing our own strength heals the world, because human beings–feeling afraid or threatened–have created every act of violence, greed, and separation from love that has occurred since the world began.
The Gift of Fear
