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Do You Live in Fear?
Your stuck energies force you to be someone who doesn’t exist anymore: The angry child deprived of love, the frightened child who doesn’t feel safe. The past is a false guide to the future, and yet it’s what most of us rely upon. By letting go of stuck energies, you let go of your past.
People get used to fear, and they mistake that for overcoming fear. I’m trying to get you to look inside yourself. Even when you don’t notice it, fear has you in its grasp. Anytime it wants to, it can jump you, and you’ll be powerless to resist.
If you identify personally with negativity, you will never let it go. Learn to see anger as only energy, like electricity. Electricity isn’t about you. Neither is anger. It’s universal and sticks to anything that seems unfair or unjust. Fear sticks to anything that feels dangerous or unsafe.
Imagine that your worst enemy comes over to your house. He sits down in the living room, and no matter what you do, he won’t go away. Day after day he refuses to leave. What do you do? You begin to ignore him. You pretend he’s not there. You home isn’t your home if there’s an enemy living there. It doesn’t matter if you toss a drop cloth over him, or if you decide to completely redecorate the place. Until you figure out a way to make your enemy leave, you’ll never feel safe.
The world is your home, and it is safe. God created it that way. But fear crept in. Big problem. Nobody feels safe anymore. As long as you live in fear, the world is a threat. If that doesn’t matter to you, okay. But living that way you’ll never know the joy of your own soul.
Adapted from Why Is God Laughing? The Path to Joy and Spiritual Optimism, by Deepak Chopra (Harmony Books, 2008).
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16 comments
add your comment »Beautiful. I hear that emotion is energy in motion. Fear has ruled me. I tried the drop cloth. It got worse. I am now using diffefent methods. I'll let you know...
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Mr. Chopra, I mispelled autoimmune disease! ;-)
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Mr. Chopra, Yes I have felt fear siting in my house for many many years! Another change ans loss has come, rejection staring you in the face! But yes I was living with fear in my house, this produces anger, resentment, untrust, unloved, unlovable, unbelief, ect............not to mention physical ailments as in autoammune diseases! Mary
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Thank you for this article, I learned something from it. I lived in fear my whole life and it has caused me to see the world as my enemy. Everything feels like a threat and nothing is safe at all. I have paranoia delusions. See, I rarely leave the house because I feel like a target and a victim to everyone. But, um, one thing I learned from here is that I can't prevent the life we are in.
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I have been through a lot growing up and it has caused me to fear a lot of different things now. My fears have become a burrden and a danger to me. Last summer I tried to get over my fears by taking a trip to go see my family by myself for the first time in many years. I was an Agoraphobic and only traveled with my husband or someone that I was close to. Fears can be conquered if you do a lot of praying and meditation. I still working on a couple of fears I have and hope that one day I will be fear free.
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I think if you need to always feel ready to put up the good fight then you must be living in fear. I gave up my fear of the world when Iput it in God's hands.
Now if the government would quit trying to makes us all fearful we would be much happier. But they are practiced at this art of deception in order to control us or make us belive their crap.
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In times as we face now of looming scarcity there will be a rise in the instances of jumping out and slitting. It will serve one well not to be in denial of the eat or be eaten nature of things. Fear serves the purpose of readying for survival, true for the Wildebeast and for Man, like it or not. The only God is the power within us to survive challenges to our existence in the here and now as that is all there is.
True you can create your own experience with thoughts and beliefs but thoughts and beliefs end when you are denied the breathe that enables you to think and believe.
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I just read this book and would recommend it to others and it would make a great gift for someone. I love when you write in story style Deepak. Thank you for this book~
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Sage advice as always. The analogy of fear being like an unwelcome guest in the home. This also opens to a multitude of ways to deal with the fear. I strive to keep fear out of the house but it does not help that my wife has PTSD and paranoid delusions. What do you do with someone who expresses fears histrionically and will not seek help?
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i prefer being aware rather than ready and willing to fight. i prefer non-violence. if someone should attack me unawares, well i guess i must've had that karmically coming, now i'll forgive them and stop this karmic cycle. this kind of peace and virtue cultivation i find really eases fear.
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