Healing is simply this: Meeting your fear with acknowledgment, empathy and love.
Suffering happens when our protective mechanisms become chronic. Protective mechanisms like: Hyper-vigilance, anxiety, physical pain… These are all “danger” alarms that our nervous system sets into motion to protect us. But when our protective mechanisms become chronic, they start to smother us.
Protective mechanisms are triggered by fear. Chronic protective mechanisms are held in place by chronic fear.
To heal the symptoms, we need to address the fear.
But if we address the fear as a problem to be solved or an unwanted part to be exiled, guess what happens?
Fear freaks out. Wouldn’t you freak out if you were treated as a problem or an undesirable?
Trying to fix fear won’t fix fear. Fear doesn’t need to be fixed. Fear needs these three simple things in order to feel safe again:
1⃣ Fear needs to be ????????????. Name the fear.
2⃣ Fear needs to be ?????????? with. Tell fear you get it. You’ve been afraid before. You know what that feels like, and it’s a difficult thing to experience.
3⃣ Fear needs to be ?????. Tell fear, “I’m here for you. I care about you. I’m your biggest supporter and I will take care of you. I’ve got you. I love you.”
But what if you’re afraid to try this approach? Then start by acknowledging, empathizing with and loving ???? fear. 
With total and infinite belief in you,
Anna
If you need support with chronic pain and anxiety, take my FREE QUIZ called “Why the *bleep* am I still in pain?!” so I can help you get some clarity.
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Previously Published on Medium
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