Love, Fear, and the Big Bang

I’m sharing two what ifs today...

#1: What if fear is really love?

Fear is our system alerting us to danger. We fear physical, emotional, and social pain for us and others we care about.

Some fears are trying to protect us from pain and from damage: physical pain from getting physically hurt or emotional pain from embarrassment, shame, or ridicule. Other fears are trying to protect the people we care about - our families, our friends, our communities.

Fear cares about us and the people we love. Perhaps, then, fear is just a form of love.

#2: What if every emotion brings perfect energy for us?

One day last week I felt anxious, and I explored the feeling of it in my body. It felt electric. It felt energized. It felt…kind of amazing.

I don't think that anxiety is good, but it felt good when I stopped judging it and just paid attention to the feeling.

Emotions have an energy to them - we feel the energy of them. In exploring the energy of my anxiousness, it seemed like I could gently harness the energy of it and use it to craft authentic and compassionate relationships with my students that day in class. I looked ahead and saw that I could also use it to energize conversations with clients and family, if I'm ever anxious with them.

For perhaps the first time in my life, I desired to experience more anxiousness in my life, if anxiousness meant energy that I could harness.

It's very strange to write that out, but it really was empowering and emboldening. I've carried that insight with me into this week too, and it's been pretty great.

I shared this story with a friend, and he tapped into my inner physics nerd. He pointed out that this anxious energy is the same energy that we use to move our bodies and to think. It's the same energy of foraging animals and growing plants. It’s the energy that forms galaxies, the energy that explodes stars, and the energy of the beginning of the universe.

What if there's never an emotion we can't welcome, appreciate, love, and use? What if each emotion is a reservoir of energy to do all the good, true, and beautiful work that our true self is here to do?

Thanks so much for reading. ❤️

P.S. If you'd like see what new levels of appreciation, usefulness, and love you can bring to your emotions, schedule a free conversation with me to talk!