“This is a wonderful day. I’ve never seen this one before.”
~Maya Angelou
If you’re listening to the voice of fear in your mind, you’re living in a false reality that projects into the future and expects the worst.
Should I or shouldn’t I? What if I do—or don’t? The imagination runs wild thinking of every negative scenario imaginable.
And what’s the effect of living in these negative projections? You’re afraid…you feel stuck…you limit yourself…you play it safe.
We close down to possibilities with our attention captured by fearful thoughts. And we’re missing the beauty of what is real and alive right here and now.
At the core of each of these thoughts is a desire to know what cannot be known. This desire manifests as an imagined negative, scary outcome.
• I won’t find a partner.
• I’ll always be alone.
• I’m afraid I’ll be rejected.
• What if I fail?
• I’ll never be happy.
See how each of these common thoughts contains an assumption about what will happen in the future?
You’re a logical person, right? So here’s the truth: you cannot know ahead of time what will happen. You either know that something is true because it has already occurred. Or it hasn’t occurred yet, and you don’t know what the outcome will be.
Fearful thoughts guess or assume the worst with no logical evidence. And what happens when we take these assumptions to be true? We feel anxious, sad, and paralyzed.
We’re caught in a prison of disappointment and negativity. Something in us knows there must be more to life than this…
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The most liberating statement we can make when it comes to fear is, “I don’t know.”
Try it out right now by saying, “I don’t know.” How does it feel in your body, in your whole being?
“I don’t know if I’ll always be alone.” “I don’t know if I’ll be rejected.”
“I don’t know” brings spaciousness to our present moment experience. It opens the door to unlimited possibilities that the fearful mind can’t begin to contemplate.
In this wide open field of potential, now you’re curious rather than closed. Maybe you’ll discover a new response to a familiar situation or a pattern within yourself that wants your loving attention. Maybe you’ll notice more compassion for others or yourself.
Who knows what you’ll discover in this space of not knowing…
Living in the truth of the unknown is the healing balm for fearful thoughts because it brings your attention right into the here-and-now.
There’s no longer the pressure to know what you can’t possibly know. “Should’s,” assumptions, and expectations fall away.
You’re available to listen deeply, with an open heart, to what Life is offering you….and trust the offering…
Lose interest in the imagined, scary future. Then you’re out of your head and in your life as its unfolding right now. This is where you experience relaxation, gratitude, intimacy, and peace.
But don’t take my word for it. Test it out and watch your life light up…
The unknown is the truth, and the truth will set you free. Do you want to be free of fear? Say “Yes!” to not knowing.
Savor the deeply felt, expansive, enlivening experience of “I don’t know.”
Always in love,
Gail