This article is based on our podcast episode, Make Magic: Letting Go of Fear. Listen to the full episode here.
Takeaway: Fear naturally emerges when we begin our spiritual journey - and that's not just normal, it's transformative. This article explores:
- Why fear arises on the spiritual path
- How to view fear as a messenger rather than an obstacle
- The connection between stuck energy and spiritual growth
- Practical ways to work with fear as you deepen your spiritual connection
Your Spiritual Journey
When we decide to walk down a spiritual path, fear and doubt naturally arise. Spirituality isn't quantifiable, linear, or thinking-based - and that's precisely what makes it challenging in a world that thrives on intellect. Connecting deeply with our spiritual selves requires letting go of our left-brain perspective, which can leave us feeling ungrounded, vulnerable, and uncertain.
In 2021, both fear and safety play outsized roles in our daily lives. We're all navigating a new way of living within a collective society that has an increasingly heightened awareness of energy, spirituality, and the possibility that we are more than just brain and body.
The unknown can be scary - not only in society but also in our own inner world. What's next? How do we connect with these emerging parts of ourselves? How do we know what's real?
The Dance Between Physical and Spiritual Mind
Fear intertwines itself with many of our emotions - judgment, doubt, and even joy. When we're afraid to make decisions, we're not trusting our inner knowing. Sometimes the pressure to do the "right thing" becomes so intense that we deny ourselves permission to learn through experience.
Our physical mind - our brain - is a beautiful tool. It helps us calculate, make decisions, and understand the world in a linear way. But when we focus solely on this method of knowing, we cut ourselves off from our deeper connection to our intrinsic soul essence energy.
As you begin walking a spiritual path, you start to realize you are more than just your physical mind. You begin to feel differently about your life and purpose, becoming more conscious of your connection to something greater. Native American peoples have always called this The Great Mystery. Today, many awakening souls use similar terms, such as "greater consciousness" or "the universe."
When we fear intertwining our physical mind with our spiritual mind, we cut ourselves off from a greater level of perception and understanding - and ultimately, from the expansive web of self-love available to guide and support us.
Understanding Spiritual Energy
There is no formula (yet) to figure out spirit. It exists on a high frequency that humans haven't always been able to understand. Yet we receive messages from this spiritual place within and around us constantly. In Alcoholics Anonymous, they call this your "Higher Power." Various religions speak of God, Goddess, Mother Nature, or angels. In earth-centered traditions, everything contains spiritual energy, and consciousness relates directly to our soul.
Historically, we've tried to understand spirit through the mind rather than through a heart-centered, somatic perspective. We've overlooked the possibility that our body is the vessel that allows this intrinsic energy to come alive, enabling our spiritual essence to live purposefully through a heart of love.
The Three Common Hurdles
Everyone committed to their spiritual journey encounters three main challenges:
1. Fear
2. Doubt
3. Distrust
The question I hear most often when guiding others is, "What if I trust myself and I'm wrong?"
Society tends to discredit intuitive knowledge, focusing instead on basic levels of science. In doing so, we discount serendipitous experiences and push down our "gut feelings." We distance ourselves from the expansive wonder that arises when we tap into our creative, magical energy.
Spirit often speaks through our right brain - through pictures, music, art, beauty, and deep feelings. Children often access spiritual energy more readily than adults because they remain open to possibilities they don't fully understand. This openness is something we can learn to reclaim.
Transforming Fear into Growth
When fear arises, how might we see it as a messenger? What if these emotions that surface need healing to help us trust our spiritual path? With trust, fear can transform into positive emotions like love and joy.
Consider anxiety - often described as "enthusiasm without breath" (source). When we're enthusiastic without breath, we create a withholding, a mistrust, a fear of being present with our true experience and potential. What if we viewed fear similarly? Perhaps fear is simply the constriction of an energy that could take us deeper into our connection with something greater.
Everything that rises in the body carries a message. Sometimes there are so many that we must decide what to listen to first. Some messages feel aligned, while others challenge us to hear difficult truths. Our left brain urges us to push down fear, to overcome and ignore it. But our right brain invites us to dance with something bigger and deeper within ourselves.
Some of the most weighted questions that arise when we step onto a spiritual path and start letting our intuition guide us is, "Is this real? And what if I'm crazy?" Truly, we have been programmed by our society to question our innate knowing and to block out our inner guidance due to fear of the unknown. Part of coming into alignment with your soul essence is coming home to your soul as the best friend you've longed for your entire life.
A Personal Journey Through Fear
In my own experience, I was thrust onto my spiritual path at 15 when I encountered an abrasive spiritual presence for the first time. Being naturally sensitive to energy, this experience led me to believe I couldn't be empowered in my sensitivities, leaving me full of doubt and victim energy.
I often see similar experiences in my clients' childhoods. Many intuitive children grow up without parents who listen to or emotionally support their spiritual experiences. These children often become adults who struggle to trust their own experiences, feelings, and spiritual paths. When they later explore spirituality, doubt and fear naturally arise from this old wounding.
Sometimes we consciously choose our spiritual path; other times, we unknowingly walk into complex experiences that raise spiritual questions without immediate answers. This uncertainty can deepen our doubt and fear. Due to this catalyst in my life, it pushed me to spend the last two decades exploring how to be empowered in my knowing. I teach and counsel from the ground that we have everything we need to transform our trauma into treasures. When we choose to embrace our soul essence, we align ourselves to a higher vibrational capacity for healing and self-trust.
The Dance with Vulnerability
Fear often emerges because our mind craves a map to maintain control. When we feel out of control, we experience vulnerability. Yet vulnerability doesn't need to be scary - it opens doors to new learning, perspectives, and healing.
As we tend to fear within ourselves with authentic care, we can transform restriction into possibility. When fear arises on your spiritual path, listen to that feeling and ask what it needs:
Does it need reassurance that you'll be okay?
Would movement help release the uncertainty?
Might simple comfort - a warm blanket and beverage - help soothe your left brain's response to the unknown?
The Release of Stuck Energy
During my time working with elders struggling with Alzheimer's and Dementia, I witnessed how energy and pain we push down throughout life emerges in our later years. As children, we often can't process significant emotions or trauma, so we bury these experiences deep within. As we age and approach our transition from this world, our bodies intelligently try to release these residual energies before returning to source.
If you're experiencing waves of emotion on your spiritual path, embrace them. Rather than storing them long-term in the body (and having to work with them in older age), let them be healed in present time through self-care, energy healing, journaling - whatever you need to let them move through your system. Your journey will likely surface old energies, potentially intensifying fear in your body. You might experience:
Cascading emotions without a clear cause
Unexpected anger or sadness
Confusion in the mind seeking control
Anxiety that doesn't match your present-time experiences
Walking a spiritual path means connecting more deeply with our intrinsic selves - our soul essence. This requires a willingness to release the energies and stories that obscure our authentic, empowered nature.
Moving Through to Love
To reach the brilliant moments of spiritual work, we must release "stuck" energy and trust the process. Pushing through fear opens us to a place of love and acceptance. As you step onto a spiritual path and fear arises, honor the emotional process and healing needed to release that fear and trust your body's wisdom.
When you can let go of overthinking and fear-driven responses, you're rewarded with a deep, authentic connection to your spiritual essence - your unique energy that connects you to renewed freedom, love, and inner peace.
Looking for extra support as you work through fear on your spiritual journey? Book a free consultation call and we can map out your unique situation together.
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