How to Release Fear in 4 Steps | Healing & Shadow Work
Fear of the unknown, fear of not being good enough, fear of not having enough, fear of judgment, fear of rejection, fear of being seen, fear of failure, fear of imperfection, fear of abandonment, fear of quitting, fear of death, fear of change, fear of vulnerability, fear of being alone, fear of missing out.
There are so many more fears that you could feel affected by in life and in this blog I want to give you some tips on how to release your fear.
As a Spiritual Mentor & Author, and Intuitive Guide, I’ve worked with many different clients who have a wide range of fears that influence how they experience life. In my own journey fear of judgment and fear of rejection have been the major fears that impact me and how I show up.
I have a YouTube video where I explain fear of the unknown and learning to let go of control. You can check that out here.
Fear is a state of mind that triggers a deep seeded belief that has been programmed around how you view yourself and life as a whole. When someone has a fear it’s not as easy as changing your mind about the way you view the situation, because subconsciously you are carrying a belief that says your fear is 100% factual. Your body has been programmed to believe something that may in fact not be true.
When our mind takes control of how we process our current experience it often reacts from survival mode. This means that your mind processes everything outside of you as something that is trying to kill you. This is a subconscious process you experience, so even if you logically know that your situation will not cause imminent death, your body is reacting as if death is a sure thing. Your fears are rooted in survival mode which triggers the reaction of fight, flight or freeze in your body.
Let’s say you have a fear of judgment, like I do, this fear can be triggered in many different ways. For myself it’s often triggered when I am doing one of my spiritual practices and my family members who are not spiritual are home. I believe they are judging me for how I’ve chosen to live my life. When I feel the fear coming forward my mind starts creating all of these thoughts of unworthiness, “they don’t like me”, “they think I’m weird”, “why do I have to be so different”, and this cycle of thoughts creates a repetitive loop that is never-ending. My body reacts to these thoughts of fear by saying, “holy crap, we aren’t safe, oh my gosh, this is terrifying, we are going to die, this is scary, how can I get through this moment and survive what’s happening”. When this happens your body can react in many different ways, your hands start to get sweaty, your heart starts racing, your mind runs a mile a minute, you feel anxious, overwhelmed and surrounded by challenges.
Ultimately when your fear is triggered by an external circumstance, your entire being shifts into survival mode in order to keep you safe. When you are living from survival mode you are not making decisions that are the best for your growth, instead you are making decisions simply to survive this moment.
The problem is that when your fear is triggered you most likely are perfectly safe, you simply feel uncomfortable about the situation. Feeling safe and feeling comfortable are not the same. In order to release your fears you are retraining your brain to see that when you feel uncomfortable you are still indeed safe. This process helps you to live from creation mode rather than survival mode.
When you live from creation mode you have a conscious choice to make the best decisions for yourself, without having your mind run wild and freaking out all the time. Rather than reacting from a space of feeling overwhelmed and anxious, you are able to respond from a space of feeling calm and centered.
Releasing your fear is not a flip of the switch. You are needing to reprogram your mind and your body’s reaction or response to the thoughts in your mind. The way I see fear in an energetic perspective is a very low vibrational energy that has been sitting stagnant in your body since the fear was first formed. When you are in the process of releasing your fear you are acknowledging the low vibrational energy that you are carrying and you are releasing this energy through your emotions. When we release our emotions energetically it can look like crying, if you are angry you may want to physically move the energy out of your body by doing a high-intensity workout.
When we are in survival mode in the fight, flight or freeze reaction we aren’t properly releasing the energy of fear and that’s what causes a build up of stagnant energy. The more we feel the fear being triggered the low vibrational energy in our body builds and builds. It’s like the saying “sweep it under the rug” it doesn’t go anywhere. Over time your fear gets worse and worse not because you are experiencing situations that have gotten worse, simply because the energy you carry inside of you has built up over the years.
Keep reading for the how to steps!
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Back to the blog - How to Release Fear in 4 Steps
This 4 step process will help you to release fear and the energy you have been carrying in your body around your fear.
1 locate the belief behind the fear
(requires deep healing inner work)
Your fear stems from a belief you have been carrying for a long time and usually when you go deep enough you can see the belief comes from not feeling good enough or not feeling worthy.
You have to understand the depth of your fear and where it’s rooted in your beliefs. Here is an example from a mentoring client of mine.
She was afraid of looking at her bank account and seeing the amount of money, or lack thereof, she had. She has always been afraid of not having enough money and not being able to pursue her goals of being a business owner.
Her fear tends to trigger a lot of thoughts about how her husband will perceive her, how she could never ask for help from friends or family, and how it means she is a bad business owner. She would never allow herself to feel through her fear because her mind would instantly jump into how she can solve the problem in order to not be afraid. Her survival response was fight. She thought, “if I do this, this and this then it will be okay”, “if this happens then I can do this and it will be okay”, “if I can’t do that then I will have to do this”. Her thoughts would spin and spin and spin trying to fight against her fear of lack.
When I was working with her I kept asking her questions to go deeper into what her thoughts are saying about the fear. I didn’t want to know the thoughts about finding the solution, I needed to hear her thoughts about what this fear made her think about herself.
As she stepped back into the energy of the fear her thoughts guided her to the belief behind the fear that has been rooted in her since she was a child. She stated “I feel worthless. I feel like my childhood self again and I’m being told, no you can’t have that. If you don’t have money you are equally zero. It makes me revert to the childhood feeling of having no value.”
Now that we know the belief that is attached to her fear of lack we can move into the second step.
2 feel the pain and emotions attached to the belief & fear
The process of understanding the belief attached to the fear is directly connected to step 2 of feeling the pain and emotions attached to the belief. What I mean by this is that usually step one and step two are happening at the same time.
In order to release the fear you have to acknowledge the energy of the fear that has been sitting inside of your body. For my client the energy was rooted in not feeling good enough, and believing that the amount of money she had determined her worthiness. Logically she understands that this isn’t true, but when your fear is triggered we can’t understand logic. When we are in survival mode we don’t logically view the world around us, because we are reacting in a way that is life or death.
The only way to release the fear is by feeling the pain and emotions that have become attached to the belief and fear. By feeling the emotions you are releasing the energy of the fear from your body. Originally you didn’t feel safe to feel your fear, because you were triggered into fight, flight or freeze. Now that you are processing your fear and choosing to release it, you have the safe space to affirm your safety and fully feel your emotions.
The fear of your emotions is always worse than the actual process of feeling them. For my client I was able to guide and support her through the process of feeling her emotions so she could come out the other side feeling lighter, feeling hope once again. This is the difference between the low vibrational energy you carry around fear and the higher vibrational energy of love. The moment you allow yourself to feel the pain and release the energy you let go of the weight you’ve been carrying.
This moves into step three of the process of releasing fear.
3 find a new supportive belief that aligns with your desires
Your fear will continue to be triggered by your external environment because you don’t have control over your environment. When we choose to release fear and find peace we are recognizing that our internal condition is what we have control over.
In order to fully release the fear you need to find a new supportive belief that aligns with your desires. This way anytime your fear is triggered in the future, you can feel the pain, remind yourself you are safe in this moment even if you feel uncomfortable, and then affirm the new supportive belief that can help you carry hope as you move forward.
This supportive belief is reminding you to shift from survival mode into creation mode. If you stay in survival mode you will always feel like you are reacting to life happening around you. Creation mode is where you say to yourself, “I see you fear, I know you are afraid right now, I know this is scary and uncomfortable, I want to remind you that you are safe, nothing is trying to kill you. You are safe to feel this fear. Let’s breathe through this feeling now. Let’s come back to remembering this fear doesn’t determine if I am worthy or not.” Then you affirm your new belief. This is the power of conscious choice when you choose to become aware of your fear and no longer let it control you.
Which brings us to the final step.
4 repeat the process as needed
Releasing your fear is not a flip of the switch and it takes practice and dedication to live differently. You have the energy to empower yourself towards hope. Sometimes you may fall back into your fear, but afterwards you will be able to remind yourself of this step by step process so you can release the low vibrational energy of fear and come back to hope and love.
Releasing fear is something we all have to be willing to do in our lives, because fear is a very human trait we all carry. I truly hope this step by step process gives you some insight into how you can start supporting yourself in the process of releasing fear.
If you’ve used all the freebies and tried to do this work on your own, yet you still feel surrounded by a lot of unknowns then it may be time to try something different. My 1:1 Mentoring program is meant to guide and support you in the process of overcoming your fears so you can step fully into your power. Learn more about this offer here. I am an intuitive guide and spiritual mentor. The work I do in my 1:1 Mentoring program is focused on energy healing as I intuitively guide you to see your limitations in your beliefs, behaviours and conditioning. We work together to overcome these limitations so you can shift into your Soul Truths. This is where you learn to live in creation mode in order to manifest your soul desires.
I wish you all the best in your process of releasing fear! Remember, one step at a time, one day at a time is the only way to move forward.
Until next time, sending love & light on your journey,
Sydney Smith
Founder of Adventuring with Poseidon Wellness