SGM May 2016 Weekly Message Five: “Four Tips to Release Fear & Receive Higher Guidance”
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Welcome back to the May 2016 Edition of Spiritual Growth Monthly. I’m Kevin Schoeninger. It’s great to have you with us here at SGM!
This week, we conclude our 4-month exploration of intuition by addressing the number one block to receiving intuitive guidance—FEAR.
These days, it’s hard to go anywhere, in the virtual or real world, without being prompted to feel afraid. From airport security to cyber security, from climate change and immigration concerns to economic doom and gloom, we are fed information that encourages fear and survival-mode thinking. While certain fears are well-founded and should be appropriately addressed, the cultural climate of fear is detrimental to health and well-being as well as to discerning and reaching for our higher possibilities.
Fear closes down our higher senses. It makes us contract in protection-mode and doubt the prompts and clues that life is sending us every moment. In this week’s message, you’ll discover 4 tips to release fear, so you can open your mind and feel more confident and secure in Life’s Providence and Guidance.
Kevin and Monica at Stonehenge
This past week my wife, Monica, and I returned from a Reiki Teachers Retreat in Glastonbury and Stonehenge, England. On our plane ride home, I had ample time to reflect on all we had seen, learned, and experienced.
First off, if we had listened to the voices of fear, we never would have made this trip. It would have been much safer to stay at home and keep doing what we always do in our comfort zones here. There are so many unknowns in global travel. Yet, that’s part of what makes it important. There’s nothing like a trip to a completely different landscape, full of sacred spaces, with participants from cultures all over the planet to renew your perspective.
Being with a group of 20 people dedicated to healing and spiritual growth was so refreshing. Rather than fear, unconditional love was present in all that we did. Of course, engaging in meditative experiences in sacred environments together supports this way of being. The community experience reminded me how important it is to have resources online and in-person that support us in maintaining a spiritual perspective.
Our retreat time also reminded me of 4 principles that empower us to let go of fear and embrace life as a spiritual journey. You can apply these principles to release the fears that hold you back and welcome the guidance that will lead you forward to the greater abundance, health, love, and purpose your soul desires!
1. Trust that Life provides and guides
Now, this first statement could come across as a pleasant platitude or a bit of wishful thinking. Yet, that is not how I suggest approaching it. Instead, what if you actively looked for evidence to support this insight? What if you actually observed that life is providing for you and guiding you every moment?
For example, on our trip, we enlisted the services of two local taxi-men, Jan and Sam, to take us from London to Glastonbury and back again. Along the way, they both answered all our travel questions, gave us insight into what was going on in the U.K., told us all about their lives, and delivered us right to the door of where we were staying and picked us up at week’s end to take us back to London. At our drop-off in London, Sam, our taximan from Bangladesh, gave us hearty hugs and wished us safe travels. It was a priceless experience that made our travels feel so personal, nurtured, and guided.
I found Jan and Sam by asking for a personal recommendation from the retreat center and following intuitive clues from the list we received. I assumed that the perfect solution was available and it turned out to be even better than I imagined.
How might your life be different if you assumed that Life was providing for you and guiding you? What if you made it a practice to notice the hints and clues? And, what if you made a point to look back on how things came together with appreciation and gratitude?
If this was your practice, can you imagine how you would grow your trust in Life? When you trust in Life, can you imagine how many more positive possibilities you would be open to seeing and receiving?
2. Align with Life
There’s a myth in the world that resources are scarce and competition is fierce. You’ve got to “take what you can” and “make things happen.” This perspective promotes fear and encourages struggle.
What if, instead, you assumed that resources are abundant, everyone has an important part to play, and everyone receives what they need? What if your main task was letting go of fear and struggle, and being open for opportunities to flow to you and through you? What if you let go of your ideas about how things “should be” and stayed open to aligning with how things are? What if you welcomed what was happening rather than fighting against it?
On our retreat, the center-point of the week was a sacred ceremony in the center of the circle at Stonehenge. We had reserved private access for our group at sunset for a meditative Reiki experience. In the days leading up to the event, I had been looking at the weather, hoping and praying for sunny skies.
As we approached Stonehenge, storm clouds gathered. The wind blew. It got colder. Once we arrived inside the circle and sat down for meditation, rain began to fall.
At first, I was disappointed. Everything had gone so smoothly on our trip up to now. There had been no rain in this country that had seen steady rain for about 5 months prior to our arrival. Nevertheless, I sat down on a plastic bag, pulled my rain hood over my head, and sat in a meditative posture.
Our group leader initiated the meditation and I settled in. The rain came harder. The wind blew. I started to shiver and wondered, doubted, and lamented if this would be the profound experience I had hoped for.
Then, I let go. I let go of how I thought I wanted it to go. I let go of my ideas.
I felt my spine anchor into the ground. My breath spontaneously became slow, full, very deep and primal—as if I was breathing the primordial breath of Life. The rain felt nourishing and my seat on the ground surprisingly began to heat up.
Then, in my head, I “heard” drums. “Dumm. . .DummDumm. . .Dumm. . .DummDumm. . .”
I felt as if I was present at one of the ancient ceremonies on this site, celebrating the Elemental Spirit of Life. My spine adjusted. I sat up straighter. I continued the Deep Breath—and felt as if I was at the Dawn of Creation with all the elements present—Earth underneath, stones around, wind gently blowing, and rain gently falling. I rested in a deep peacefulness—knowing that everything was good, just as it was made to be.
When our meditation time was done, the rain and wind had stopped. We opened our eyes to a firey orange and purple sunset through the stones. Perfection. Better than anything I could have anticipated or planned. I was so happy that I let go of my ideas about how it was supposed to be and experienced how it was.
3. See problems as opportunities to learn, heal, and grow
Without the rain, wind, and chill at Stonehenge, I would not have had the same powerful elemental experience. I would not have had the experience of being at the Dawn of Creation with all the elements. If I hadn’t been cold, I would not have vividly experienced the unexplainable warmth coming up from the ground. If I had focused on how the rain and wind was a problem, I would have missed out on the experience they offered.
What could happen if you view everything that happens as an opportunity? What if, instead of complaining or struggling against things, you asked what is now possible that might not have been possible otherwise? What opportunity is now available because of the way events are actually unfolding?
Arguments can lead to deeper understandings. Roadblocks can lead to growing new skills and creative discoveries. Challenges can bring people together and call up resources you never knew were available. When we are grateful for whatever happens, better possibilities emerge.
Fear sees threats everywhere, gratitude sees Providence in everything.
4. Create practices and environments that support your spiritual path
One of the most profound parts of our trip was being in sacred spaces. These spaces held an energy from the centuries of spiritual practices that had been done there. Besides Stonehenge, here are a few more of these sites: in Glastonbury, St. Margaret’s Chapel, Chalice Well, The Tor, and The Abbey, and The Cloisters at Westminster Abbey in London.
When we entered these spaces, my wife and I both felt a palpable sense of peace and quiet.
All of these sites were founded on spiritual practice—the setting aside of time and space to focus on connection with the refined energy of Source, God, Creation, the Universal Life Force that gives Life to us all.
How could you create your own such practice space? What might you put in it? What reminds you of the sacred? What shifts your perspective to focus on the Source of your life?
Here’s a picture of an altar I’ve made in the room where I meditate:
No matter how I feel when I wake up in the morning, after spending some time meditating in my sacred space, I am focused on what really matters. I feel aligned. I am ready to greet the day. I’ve let go of any fears and anxieties and spent time listening and feeling for the deeper guidance that I know will carry me through the day.
What difference might it make in your life if you began each day with some quiet time, meditating in your sacred space? What might happen if you made it a practice to Trust that Life provides and guides, align with what was happening rather than fighting it, saw everything as an opportunity to learn and grow, and created a sacred space to start your day from a spiritual perspective?
My guess is that it would release you from fear and empower you with guidance.
I would love to hear your questions, comments, and experiences in our Discussion below.
In next month’s Weekly Messages, we’ll explore surprising, ancient, sage advice that opens up powerful new ideas about what it means to be on a spiritual path.
Until next time,
Enjoy your practice!
Kevin