Hello POP Community!

In honor of Halloween, Samhain, and Dia de los Muertos, this month’s letter is about… fear!

We’ve all taken a quick breath while our heart thumps in our chest. Maybe we’ve even screamed as our eyes darted back and forth, one sweaty hand rubbing the other as the gripping strangle hold of something, somewhere, or someone we fear shoots through us. For humanity, fear is an experience that has motivated us since before we had language. As a culture, we may not even recognize all the things we fear or how what we fear affects us.

As simple as it sounds, from my experience of speaking with clients I’ve seen that what most people don’t like is the “feeling” of fear. We don’t want to be in fear because it feels scary. It feels terrifying. We feel out of control. We feel vulnerable in some way. We want out of those kinds of feelings because we believe those kinds of feelings are “bad” feelings. The story of what we believe to be true feels so real to us, and it feels like we’re heading towards the end of something.

“Fear lives most naturally at that connection point between the conscious and the subconscious, the place where both image and allegory occurs most naturally and with the most devastating effect.”  – Stephen King

With an awareness practice, the practitioner has an opportunity to believe that all things happen for us, not to us. We get to have this human experience for however many years we’re dealt. So while we’re here in this card game of life, why not utilize every card in the deck for our own growth… including fear?

If we take a look at most of the times fear rises up for us, it usually relates to the unknown. Questions arise: What might occur? Who might be outside the door?

But why does the unknown get such a bad wrap?

It’s like the Universe is throwing a Halloween party and the Unknown walks through the door… and all the other party goers fall quiet. The Known is standing in the corner, sipping punch and whispering to the Bored, wondering what the Unknown is going to do.

As fear was once something that saved us from lions and tigers and bears (oh my), can it not also be something that initiates a practice that allows us to risk the feeling of it, to explore something new? For example, what if every time we were scared to speak to that person, we did? Or if we were scared to apply for that job, we did? Or if we were scared to say how we felt to our parents, we did?

What if fear didn’t only indicate the possible end of something to us? What if it also initiated the beginning of something? What if it is actually pointing you towards something worth moving towards? Maybe it’s the greatest adventure or love of your life, just outside the door….

What if when the Unknown walks into the Halloween party, you’re the first one up and out of your seat to welcome it – because you’re smart enough to know that the Unknown always has the best stories, and is the life of every party you have ever attended.

Play your fear card.

“Everything you’ve ever wanted is on the other side of fear.” – George Adair

Warmly,

Lesley Carroll