Thursday, January 8, 2009

Stepping Into Creation...and Away from Fear

Stepping Into Creation...and Away from Fear
by Norma Gentile


I've been thinking about fear. It's everywhere. I turn on the TV news
and hear about lack of money, the financial systems coming apart, and
people behaving badly. My junk mail has an ominous tone in it,
assuming that someone must get elected, or must not get elected, in
order to save our schools or lifestyle or community.

When I create or make a choice out of fear, I am giving myself no
love. By choosing or moving while I'm in fear, I will withdraw and
contract. That choice will be a choice that on some level disempowers
me, and sends the message that it isn't safe to be here to others.

When I choose out of my own sense of desire and courage, anything I
create or choose will continue to move out as an open, loving and
empowering quality. Anyone who comes in contact with something I've
created out of my own desire, be it a song, an article, or a podcast,
will find that same empowerment and love opening within themselves.
Because it is already within both of us.

Love is our experience of knowing Spirit, and fear is our experience
of being separated from Spirit. Knowing this, we can adjust our tuning.

Fear is our separation from Spirit. When we are in fear, we experience
it physically, emotionally and mentally. The kind of fear I'm speaking
about is a fear we step into ourselves. Which means we can step out of it.

"Life is an ongoing process of choosing between safety (out of fear
and need for defense) and risk (for the sake of progress and growth)."
This wonderful quote comes from Abraham Maslow, courtesy of
www.silvers.org. Maslow continues, suggesting that to break the cycle
we can "make the growth choice a dozen times a day." These choices
need not be gigantic. Start with what is right in front of you.

What do you really want? For most of us, fear is stopping, slowing, or
clouding our ability to answer this question clearly.

Natural Part of Life

It occurred to me that fear manifests in so many ways, and is so
prevalent that it has become nearly invisible. It is considered a
natural part of life. We have come to expect it and embrace it so much
that we do not register when we are experiencing fear. It is no longer
a question of if we are in fear mode, but to what extent or percentage
we are in fear mode. Even in deep meditation, I can find at least 10
percent of my body still engaged in fear.

In my Midwestern U.S. culture and upbringing, fear was mixed in with
food and water as a daily supplement. It was the primary motivation
for most small daily choices. You couldn't go outside without proper
clothing (what would the neighbor's think!) You had to give money to
the right organizations. You couldn't be seen getting mail from
certain companies. You couldn't be seen talking too long with the
"crazy" neighbor. And for me the biggest fear-rule was that you had to
say nice things at all times, especially when you or the other person
didn't feel like it.

I remember my mother chastising me for answering a neighbor's query
"how are you feeling?" honestly. "Not very good' was my reply to the
neighbor, who happened to also be my mom's best friend.

I had broken my leg, and at the time was in a heavy cast and on
crutches. I was about 11 years old and living in the northern U.S. It
was snowy and icy outside and I was stuck in bed or on the couch for
months during the healing process. As a young teen, in the age before
internet and cell phones, my life was miserable. No friends, no phone
calls of any length (we were on a party-line), no privacy, nothing to
do, and my mother buzzing around me 24/7. Looking back, I think my
saying I was "miserable" was an understatement!

The next day my mother took me to task for answering the neighbor's
question honestly.

"No one really wants to know how you feel," explained my mother. "When
you are asked 'how are you?' just say you are fine." I could see that
there was no option. There was a fear around letting any crack or
weakness show. If I wasn't fine, it meant something was wrong. And at
that time in my culture, that meant weakness. And there was, and still
is, a great fear around being perceived as weak.

But I find that weakness can turn to vulnerability. And when I let
myself be vulnerable, I let Spirit remind me of how much I am loved,
and how much my guides and angels and my friends want to support me.

Those little cracks and imperfections we judge within ourselves are
opportunities to share compassionately. I love how the Dalai Lama can
meet fear-based questions with a smile and an understanding of what
lies behind the question. Much to the consternation of U.S. television
interviewers, his answers are frequently not to the question that is
asked, but to assuage and address the fear that prompted the question.
Compassion reveals how Spirit can move through humans. Most of us
would state that yes, there is already a bridge between all human
hearts. Acting compassionately towards ourselves and others
illuminates this bridge so that others may see it as well.

Building New Bridges

For many years my guides have pointed out that the unsacred (profane)
masculine structures will not function forever. As we move into the
new level of consciousness, we see differently. Rather than be in fear
about what is falling apart, can we look to see what can be built?

It occurred to me that if my attention is on the past, on what worked
yesterday, and I am trying to get that same system to work today, then
I'm not seeing what other way I might do something. In the past, I
sent out press releases to newspapers that published little articles,
and people saw these and came to my concerts. I still do this, but
fewer newspapers have money to write articles about local events. So
now, most people come to my concerts through word of mouth and my
newsletters.

This means more people present at the concert understand the
importance of Spirit and energy and healing. The concerts go much
deeper into silence. People walk out differently than when they came
in. They report dreams before and afterwards. Their guides and my
guides and all of the Archangels are obviously working together to
create gentle yet substantial changes in the larger fields of
consciousness that we share.

It is much harder to do that with hundreds of people wrestling with
having to sit still (because they don't know what meditation is and
aren't used to being still) and with kids smacking each other over the
heads with the paper program while the parents assume no one will
notice. Obviously, my old way of advertising brought in more people,
but not always those who could both benefit from the energy-surround,
while stepping into it and co-creating it with me.

I don't rule out, as we all are awakening, creating large healing
concerts again. I believe that is somewhere in the future. For right
now, I know how events feel to me. And I'm excited by creating
concerts (and workshops and gatherings) that reflect our joint
abilities to find the bridge between our hearts that already exists.
It is that quality of depth and stillness in Spirit that is my focus
now. It nourishes me in a manner that fills me and lets me move out
into the world. And I believe it nourishes others.

In the Christian Bible there is a story about not putting new wine in
old wineskins. As a typical suburban kid, I had no idea what this
meant! As an adult, I see the parallel to what I am experiencing in
the world now. Something old cannot contain or safeguard something
new. The new must be contained by something also new.

Looking at what used to work, and trying to build based on what used
to work, is like trying to build a new building in quicksand. What was
won't work now, or in the future. The energies that made up our old
systems are being re-absorbed into Creation. The old systems are
falling away.

Our future choices will flourish and grow if we make them based on
what is here now. See the foundation, whatever it is that is working
for you now, and let your choices come to you from the aspirations of
your heart and your desires. Don't try to build what was. Build what
is now possible. Next month, next week or even next year something
more will be possible. So start with what works for you right now,
today. Then you will be ready to build with the new that is coming.

Norma Gentile, sound shaman, has been writing and verbally channeling
Archangel Michael and the Hathors since 1991, Holding a master's in
voice performance and years of study with esoteric teachers, Norma
channels both in written words and through music. Her monthly podcasts
(iTunes) are offered freely, as is her e-newsletter. To subscribe, and
read additional articles or preview her new CD, Songs of Spirit,
please see her website.

Copyright © 2009 Norma Gentile. All Rights Reserved.

http://www.healingchants.com