Love Itself

We've all heard this before: Fear is the opposite of love and faith. Fear is a good indicator that we're not living in the present moment and we've forgotten to seek out solitude.

I had a friend once who was driven to get rid of fear in his and his familie's life to such an extent that he took his family up in a private plane, ignoring the pleas of his 8 year old daughter not to go, and crashed into the side of a mountain in Northern California.

They were instantly killed.

We were doing river rafting trips together down the Klamath River. This was his summer business and I worked with and for him.

He was consumed by the need to get rid of all fear. I could not grasp this concept nor get into his enthusiasm for this goal. And when all 4 of these wonderful people met an untimely death, I began to see fear as a teacher in life. It exists in all of our lives for a reason.

The elimination of inner fear is worthy of our focus. I believe my friend became confused about what kind of fear could or could not be dealt with by self-will or god/ess will.

Resistance to life is the #1 fear I am working on, for instance. I am a night person and resist getting out of bed every single day.

I go to a conference every Wednesday morning. High ranking doctors and residents attend these. I always perceive them to be arrogant and unfriendly.

So I resist going there, but go, anyway.

I began to figure out that if I get rid of the resistance, and embrace what is and make peace of mind my only goal in life, then there will be a break through with all this resistance.

Today, I actively concentrated on the antidote to fear--Love and Enthusiasm for the new day. I got out of bed, did my meditation and duties with an inner sense of optimism.

I got to the conference and authentically felt good natured towards every one there. I smiled. One of the doctors who never seemed to like me, greeted me like a long lost comrade.

I sat next to the department head of OB/Gyn and greeted her as a dear friend.

I purposely beamed love to everyone in the room. When a negative or judgmental thought arose about anyone there, I immediately relinquished this to god/ess.

"The love (god/christ/buddha/krishna/allah) within me blesses that which is within you."

Another fear antidote is the practice of Ho'oponopono. The simplicity of it makes it very easy to remember. The phrases: I love you, Thank you, Please forgive me and I am sorry are inwardly chanted at all times.

Drs Len and Vitale, co-authors of "Zero Limits" about Ho'oponopono as a spiritual practice, have simplified the practice even further to the one phrase: I love you.

However, I also always say thank you because of the power of gratitude, also a fear busting agent.

I cannot explain how this works, only that it does. Inwardly chanting these phrases in whatever order (or no order) cures insomnia, anxiety, fear, depression and feelings of alienation.

Simple practices such as Ho'oponopono bring peace to the birth and death beds as well as the sick bed. When the nurse or healer is calm then everything around her is at peace.

Ho'oponopono is a tool to use at all times, as mentioned, but in times of conflict, miscommunication or emergency, this practice serves a great purpose. The practice may even prevent further trauma, chaos or death.

Or if death is inevitable, a peaceful death will manifest.

This practice or the spiritual practice of your choice creates happy and balanced days. Every moment is an opportunity for spiritual growth.

As long as I align my center of focus on Love, fear and resistance vanishes.

After my friend and his family perished in the airplane crash, I wrote stories about my friendship with him. I wrote letters to him explaining how much I loved him and his beautiful family.

One day soon after I wrote my story, my niece and I pulled up next to a car at a red light.

The driver of that car looked over at us. It looked just like our friend.

He smiled broadly and looked happy and other worldly. We both saw an illuminated quality around his head.

Then he took off as he waved a goodbye.

My niece and I said: "Did you see that?"

We compared notes and we both saw him the same way--as a fearless and illuminated light being.

So we both were able to let him go.

We knew that his own death finally conquered the fear he was resisting.

We also were fearless about death, as a result.