Perhaps it is a carryover from last year’s roto-rootering, clutter-clearing, realigning-with-core-truth energy. This year feels like a continuation of the “reveal,” of what the soul wants to do now that it’s more in charge. Some people are experiencing the red carpet being rolled out, with new creative projects looming and even seizing them, moving them into new enthusiasm and a productivity not driven by will power. Others are still in the grip of what appears to be an addiction to worry and panic. Perhaps it is really an addiction to the left brain and the fear-based worldview it perpetrates.
It occurs to me that worry may actually be a positive thing if we can reframe it. After all, worry tells you about what would bother or upset you, and that is useful information. It speaks to you in a loud inner voice about what might happen that is negative, or what might not happen that is negative. Those ideas come from two places. The left brain may be speaking about something that would threaten the status quo and cause the experience of heightened fear or terror, even bordering on the possibility of annihilation. It might start as something fairly innocent, however.
For example, the neighbor to the back of my new house now shines some giant, ultra-bright floodlights out into her yard at night, which come into my kitchen and bedroom, blinding me and making sleep difficult. They’re bothersome, and even painful if I look at them. The upset begins with physical discomfort, but if I pay attention, it deepens into a feeling of being invaded and helpless. To find a comfortable way to exist, I have to install blackout blinds and curtains, and live defensively, which is not how I want to be in my life. I can’t connect comfortably to the outside world and nature. There is fear there under the surface—fear that I will be forced to live in a contracted way just as I am beginning to truly expand into a larger identity. That is akin to a feeling of imprisonment, of “soul murder.” See how fast an innocuous thing can become truly life-threatening?
But the worry may also come from the soul, showing you something that is important to you—and the left brain interprets it negatively. What if we turned it around to see the positive symbology and meaning? Perhaps my soul is showing me that I need to expand my sphere to include my neighbor, make friends with her, find a win-win solution. Perhaps she is afraid of a home invasion. Maybe we can help each other. Maybe the extra “light on the subject” (me and my new location and life) is a sign for me to look more deeply into the potentials of what I’m doing here in Florida (since life seems to have plopped me here, somewhat unwillingly). Maybe I’m becoming more visible and have to learn to be more comfortable with that.
So, wherever you’re caught in worry or panic, try writing down the negative or limiting statements your left brain is declaring. Try penetrating down to the underlying experience that scares you. Write down those sentences. Then turn around the statements to see what you, the soul, are trying to show yourself. What about this might lead you to a larger reality? What action might be indicated that could dissolve the contracted energy?
If you have become addicted to the left brain’s negative view, and the feeling of the adrenaline rush that comes from fear, ask yourself very clearly: Is this the way I want to spend the limited time I have in this lifetime? Stalling myself? Living in a tiny box? If the answer is “No,” then every time the tendency to fall back into those negative default settings occurs, pull the plug, perhaps even get mad at the tendency and yell, “Get out!” Then, re-imagine the enthusiastic reality your soul has begun showing you. It’s a longstanding habit we are breaking, and it takes practice to turn around the thoughts and internal dialogue. But we can do it! There is enthusiasm, even passion, under every worry.
Copyright by Penney PeirceÂ