Early in my spiritual explorations I remember hearing the phrase “Everything is either Fear or Love” which struck me to my core.
We make such a big ordeal about attempting to comprehend Spirit, what we are here for, who we really are, and yet there it was, in six simple words:
Everything is either Fear or Love.
Surely Not!
But if you lean into this for a moment, you find that you can actually observe life from this perspective.
Fear or Love.
Negative or Positive.
Heavy or Light.
Sadness or Happiness.
Worry or Freedom.
Lack or Abundance .
Or… there’s also Disconnected or Connected in terms of you in relation to your whole, spiritual self.
Fear or Love.
As you lean into it, I encourage you to ask yourself which do you feel more often?
If you say the heavier one, don’t feel bad, it is entirely acceptable since its what we are programed to do so from an early age.
Not only do our brains have what’s known as a “negative bias” and are always looking for the worst case scenarios to keep us safe, BUT our world is often bombarded with fearful stories, concepts and build-ups.
The question is rather: what would it take for you to switch it for the light?
Before you answer that though, let’s look at both of these, what they are made of and how they actually feel. (as well as how two four letter words can truly encompass “everything”.)
Love… well interestingly enough, Love is what we’ve been talking about in these musings.
Love is all there is. Love is highest perspective, it is a flowing, invigorating, gentle yet powerful energy source that flows through us. Love isn’t a verb, while it can be used as one. Love is free flowing energy that resonates with Spirit/God/Divine itself.
Like a glowing breath of light, Love permeates and heals… it transforms, alchemizes and soothes.
It’s Expansive.
Fear, often known as False Evidence Appearing Real, is hesitant, it holds on, it is tight, it is stressful, and, honestly, even as I write this I can say that even the experience of trying to verbalize Fear can feel debilitating.
Fear is lack of light, lack of solutions, lack of
In fact, it truly is the opposite to the presence of Love.
It’s Constrictive.
I mention this because I want you to play with feeling both these two extremes, and as you feel them start to ask yourself what information you can gain from this.
If you are feeling fearful, even noticing just a slight tightness of stress, what can you do in this moment to ease into more expansion?
What if you try to choose love?
Before you think I’m sounding like a bumper sticker, consider the use of the terms Expansion and Contraction.
If fear is seen as contraction, that feeling of holding on, of hiding, of lack….
and
Love is the feeling of Expansion, that feeling of freedom, and compassion, and understanding, of openness and abundance…
Can you feel the difference?
The sense of fear being the holding on to, sucking in contraction of yourself and the world around you, while love is a breath of fresh air, freedom loving, growing expansion of all that is?
It’s a bit like when you are experiencing pain and your natural, fearful response is to hold your breath, hold on, resist and not give in…
However, by breathing out, by relaxing into, by allowing light in, the pain begins to ease.
So what does this have to do with Spiritually Aware Living?
Well, awareness needs to be embodied, it needs to be practiced and so much more than cognitively processed.
By feeling into what feels lighter, lovelier, more expansive vs, what feels tight, constrictive and fearful, you actually start to easily find the grove of your soul path and inner voice.
Now, we live in a very fearful world.
Fear is the marketing tool, the narrative, the focus and the weapon wielded often to keep control, but also because it’s become habitual.
Even worrying is a practiced habit for many, because there’s been much to worry about so it becomes a safety precaution.
However, I believe that by practicing the energy of love, by leaning into the flow of it, we can tip the balance from the natural practice of fear.
(Remember, Fear is always FALSE EVIDENCE APPEARING REAL, which means that often the fear that is focused on and felt, hasn’t even happened yet. Fear is a slippery energy, as it doesn’t have anything to grab hold on. If something you’ve been worried about does happen, then you no longer fear it will happen. You may fear the consequences, the future outcomes, or grieve the experience, but you won’t be fearful of what has already occurred.)
While Fear may be false evidence, let not minimize the fact that the FEELING of Fear (anxiety, stress, despair, anger, hopelessness) feels very real.
I’m not someone to just put a happy face sticker on life and pretend to be positive.
False positivity is not awareness, it's pretend, and while you can try to fake it until you make it, you will never fool your soul.
This is why I love the perspectives of Contraction vs Expansion;
Because by simply drawing attention to whether you are feeling constricted or expansive you will know which way your facing.
Side story:
This week we got satellite internet.
We’ve been functioning on data and couldn’t stand it anymore.
We put up our satellite disc and my son signed into the app.
As soon as he did, the satellite began to move all on it’s own.
It kept moving until it latched on to the big satellite in the sky, and found connection.
If we’d kept the satellite in the box, it wouldn’t have been able to connect. If we’d not logged into the app, it wouldn’t have activated to send out the beam into the sky.
The signal, the energy would have stayed constricted or disconnected.
However, once we took the steps to connect, the energy was free to expand, open, wide and (excitingly) powerful!
So, this week, as you go about your day, I encourage you to keep checking in with yourself, without judgment:
Are you in a loving, expansive space or do you feel constricted in anyway?
Again, there’s no right or wrong, but you won’t get a powerful signal until you connect… so what steps can you take to find that connection?
Put your hands on your heart and take 5 deep breaths.
With each one, allow yourself to expand… and to love… a little bit more.
Let the love in!