Overcoming FEAR

Conquering the Roller Coaster...

You make the decision to ride it. Your blood is pumping, your adrenal glands are working overtime, sweat is on your brow. Standing in line for what you are told is the biggest roller coaster ever built in the galaxy! You are petrified, nervous, peeing in your pants!
You glance at the line of people in front and behind you...pure lunatics, no doubt. There are some 30 years older and those who barely meet the height requirement. Your decision to ride this 'cyclone of terror' has been made by those individuals and the countless millions who have been in your very shoes. So you begin thinking "If they can do this, so can I!"

You take your seat with nervous anticipation. You are bolted in and can't get out at this point. Then you begin thinking "Why on earth did I get in this line?" "Why didn't I just watch these crazy lunatics from below and never feel this fear?"

No more time to think. Your car begins to move forward....no turning back....

The ride takes you on turns you've never anticipated and your heart feels as if could burst! Then, the car for no apparent reason, slows down and begins its slow crawl upwards. You can now hear every cable and pulley thrusting you further and further to the sky. You are petrified to look down because you will realize those on the ground are becoming increasingly smaller and smaller...and at this moment, you wish you were on the ground with the spectators! You've arrived at the peak of the roller coaster and KNOW with impunity in seconds you will drop a million feet to the depths below. You hear the wave of screams before you as you descend and realize YOU are now screaming blood curdling cries of terror!!! Your stomach has been left on the top of the ride and you are waiting for it to reconnect with your body. Your knuckles are white from your Kung Fu grip on the bar in front of you. Then you realize something more shocking...

THE TERROR LASTED A MERE 3 SECONDS!!

Imagine that? How long were you frightened? How long did it take you to make the decision to board that roller coaster? All that anxiety and fear for a mere 3 SECONDS. Then the pain is gone. Not only is it gone but you've conquered it! You rode the roller coaster and survived! You slayed the Goliath which haunted you! You are invincible!
And what do you do now? YOU RIDE THE ROLLER COASTER AGAIN!!
Why? Because it was a fear you overcame. It wasn't as hard as you anticipated, was it?

ISN'T THAT LIFE AS WE KNOW IT?

We get all worked up over something...a roller coaster, a job interview, a family get together...the list goes on. As we put much time and effort into anxiety, stress, impending doom only to realize it was usually a waste of precious time. And this becomes a constant fight or flight lifestyle for most of our existence.

Fears overcome and many times paralyze us. Fears halt the forward momentum of our life paths.Let me ask you... do the trees fear winter? No. They shed their leaves and brace themselves for the cold inevitably where they lose branches. But come Spring, they are in full bloom anticipating another vibrant season with more growth..

 If nature continues to move forward without fear, why can't you? Have you no faith?

Fear and faith cannot exist together. 

God is working behind the scenes in our lives, although we cannot see Him. Faith is described as "being certain of what we cannot see". God will make things right....Faith is knowing God will be there when we face the 'Roller Coaster'  in our everyday lives. He will make it right. However, we need to understand faith isn't something we can produce in our lives. Faith comes from God. On the contrary, Fear is an unbelief which takes root in our souls causing us to fall deeper and deeper in a rabbit hole, paralyzed with little or no positive forward growth.  It's ironic how we can see an acorn, know instinctively it will grow into a huge oak tree. It doesn't stop to worry about water or being pruned...it just grows! Yet we don't possess the faith of a tree??? Crazy, huh? I'm sure the trees dislike the cold of winter but they manage to get through the storms and blizzards awaiting the sun and warm months ahead. Trees really have no choice BUT to trust God. Let's face it, they don't have credit cards, mortgages or the need to keep up with the tabloids. They're just trees. Obviously, we have much to learn from them.

Personally I've found, anytime I go to the dark and down the proverbial rabbit hole with my thoughts, living in a state of FEAR,  Faith sadly is thrown in a corner! I'm not even thinking about God! I become my evil twin sister 'the control freak' and begin  thinking  how I can fix/change people, places and things to alter my feelings. The more I try to get myself out of the mess, the more I slip deeper into the abyss of my thoughts and problems.When I get like this, I'm paralyzed. Everything appears like an overwhelmingly frightening roller coaster which I'm too scared to ride. Therefore, I do nothing. Imagine if that little acorn decided to do nothing. Or if nature stopped growing once they dealt with a harsh winter? Nothing would bloom! The ecosystem would stop!

The only way to grow, like that little acorn, is through FAITH. For us humans, it's by connecting with God by reading the Word so we can be the best versions of ourselves. The moment I get my head back into the bible reading scripture the quicker my fears begin to fade. I read different variations of the Bible for clearer understanding. But in truth, it doesn't matter what version you read. The Bible is magical; the more you read it, the more it seeps into your soul where you feel more comforted and less anxious. It's a beautiful phenomenon!

Life is scary...like a Roller Coaster. The ride is quick and can be conquered with less stress in the knowledge that FAITH will overcome all your fears. Everyday is filled with struggles and blessings; opportunities which are good and bad. But in the big picture, they're all good because you've learned you can do anything with Faith!

Love and Blessings!

Celeste

Inner Child Issues!

Are We All Just Adult Children? 

The answer is YES. 
Actually, it's more like 98% of adults walking the earth have inner child issues. 

What do I mean by that?
Well, we look like adults. We ARE in theory adults; 18 or older. We may have careers, families, responsibilities...all indicators that we are adults however, there is usually a little wounded child inside screaming to be heard, seen, loved, validated, etc, etc ,etc.

And we go through life thinking everything is fine..knowing deep down inside something is missing. It's like a yearning of sorts. We are all like 'swiss cheese' with these holes needing to be filled. So we walk the earth like lemmings and do what others are doing to fill the holes... the voids of what we didn't get when we were very small children. 

Here's my drawn out analogy....

Think about the last time you got ugly drunk. You knew you were loaded but that didn't stop you from more consumption. It all seemed like a good idea at the time. You were having a blast before the room began to spin and your slurring became more noticeable to everyone but you. You may have had a girlfriend hold your hair so you could vomit IN the toilet rather than on the wall. Remember those days? Good times. 

Now, think about the next day as you were hungover, head pounding, room spinning. Do you remember being hungry? Do you remember eating anything and everything at the time to ease the pain, 'fill the void' of that empty gut? You continued to eat but were never satiated because all you really needed was.... WATER! 

So, that's what we do as adults with inner child issues. We try to fill the void with whatever we can to feel satiated when all we really need is LOVE.

When we were children all we knew was our home life which was pretty much dictated by our parents and our older siblings. We would hear everything and interpret it to our reality. When our parents spit responses to our requests for attention with phrases like "I'm too tired to read to you" or "I'm too busy, go play with your sister", we interpreted those responses as "Im not good enough". We then carried that core belief around with us in all aspects of our lives. Then we wonder why we have difficulty with relationships, finances, body images, etc.

How to grow up and become a whole adult?

Well, that takes time and some actual work. Healing your inner child allows you to release the emotional baggage you've been carrying around from your past and become a healthy adult. As you heal, the holes of the 'swiss cheese' begin to close up as you are filling them with much needed self love, forgiveness, trust and validation. When you are integrating the little boy or girl who needed love so desperately with the adult you are today, you begin to see things in a different light. You are not a wounded little child anymore who is afraid and a victim of your life. You see things from the eyes of a whole individual with enough love to give others. You no longer come from a place of weakness but from strength. 

Taking the time to heal that wounded little child within is the best work I've done on myself to date. No doubt there are triggers that continue to push my buttons but presently, I handle them in an adult fashion protecting myself and my heart.

Make the time to work on yourself. In the end you will have no regret!

I love you all! Thanks for taking the time to read this and I hope it helped on some level! 

Love and Blessings~

Celeste