How do we recognize fear and the consequences of being afraid in our lives, our activities and on our health?
Elizabeth Gilbert, author of “The Signature of All Things” says:
“You can’t be creative without being vulnerable.”
And:
“Creativity and fear are conjoined twins.”
So maybe if we could listen to our feelings of fear and give them an honoured place in our lives, we could also unleash our creativity in all sorts of ways.
Reading Elizabeth Gilbert, I was reminded of the often quoted title of Susan Jeffer’s book “Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway”,
I wonder how easy it is for most of us to recognise that we are feeling afraid so we can allow ourselves to feel it?
In my Craniosacral Therapy practice I don’t often get clients complaining of feeling fearful as a reason for coming to see me. Frequently, however, their symptoms are a result of fear that has gone unrecognised and been suppressed, sometimes for most of their lives.
I rode horses as a child and the policy was always “straight back in the saddle”. I learned to tuck my fear away and call it something else: Belly ache, breathlessness, even flu.
This skill we have to over-ride (excuse the pun) our fear is a wonderful part of our make up. It is what drives those amazing stories of people with dire injuries making their way out of the jungle or off the mountain before they collapse. As an everyday strategy, however, it takes a huge toll on our health. At its worst it is known as post traumatic stress and is beginning to be recognised as a very serious condition.
Maybe, though, we are all suffering from “ongoing traumatic stress” as we suppress and deny our fear. We then have to carry on with the burden of this unrealised fear weighing us down.
There are two ways we tend to react to this. One is to stay in a constant state of agitation, moving from one activity to another but finding it hard to rest. Our bodies are trying to make us run away. This is a sensible reaction if you find a tiger round the corner, but not a good strategy for going shopping (or being creative).
The other response is to become lethargic, lose concentration, forget things and feel as if life is just a bit dreamy. This too is a reaction to living with long term fear. Our bodies, or, perhaps, it would be fairer to describe it as our “body wisdom” is trying to shut things down, taking us beyond fight and flight to a sort of twilight. – Not much creativity here either.
Both these conditions are very uncomfortable and they do cause people seek out my help as a Craniosacral Therapist, although they don’t always recognise the underlying element of fear that is holding the symptoms in place.
During Craniosacral Therapy sessions, the body learns how to return to a neutral place. The central nervous system is able to take a rest and go about the internal tasks of mending, healing and cleansing.
Clients often report feeling more relaxed than they have in years.
What a different culture we would be living in if we were able to freely “confess” to fear; if we offered care and attention to each other when fear is felt and particularly if our children were supported in feeling and listening to the fear they feel rather than being bribed to hide it, or jollied, bullied or mocked out of expressing it, into bad dreams, ill health and loss of creativity.
(I wonder how many of our obesity problems are the result of children being offered sweets to hide the fact they feel frightened?)
Next time you feel odd sensations stirring in your body, give them some attention and see if you might be feeling fear, then see what happens if you allow yourself to really listen to it.
Who knows, you may turn out to be a creative genius.
Related Posts
