Everyone has heard of beer goggles and their often times disastrous results.

Not too many people recognize fear goggles for their similar depths of danger. Fear goggles can encourage people to start relationship better left unstarted.

Fear goggles can also impede progress of promising relationship.

Fear distorts perception.

The fear of being alone, of being abandoned, of being cheated on, of being harmed, betrayed or used. Regardless of the fear, it has a source. At some point in the past, an event happened that created the fear. Until that event, there was never that particular kind of fear. Instead a felt sense of liberation, courage and belief existed.

The prime cause was unexpected and caused pain. It awoke the fear of experiencing that type of pain again.

Fear is an attempt to protect oneself.

Let’s imagine that the first time somebody falls in love, they are full of hope, belief and positivity. And then something happens. They are cheated on, left, abused, ridiculed or deeply wounded in some particular way. The open-heart learns to become defensive. Love, relationship and other people become a source of fear. One also fears personal choices that lead up to that encounter in the first place.

Nobody wants to experience pain—avoidance of pain is a basic survival level response.

The power of fear takes a biological fight-or-flight response and applies it to future events or people who had nothing to do with the initial cause of pain. It creates a misperception that is disconnected from reality. The new person is not the old one, they are completely different. The new day is not yesterday, it is a new dawn.

Yet, fear goggles are like shades worn during a new sunrise, the bright new day is not seen clearly.

Fear redirects the free flow of spirit.

As an emotional and feeling state of consciousness, fear has great power to alter to flow of life. Similar to how a magnet can pull metal shards and shape it around its magnetic field, fear can change how the living energy of life operates. Since manifestation operates at the feeling level, fear gives thoughts and perceptions great power, and empowering fear.

Chances are, the results of that contraction will create the very result that fear tries to avoid.

When perceiving a fear, the heart contracts and the mind takes over.

The fight and flight response literally resides in the reptilian part of the mind. The free flow of life, love and enjoyment of being alive become stunted. The natural, heart-felt response of the liberated, creative and trusting mind takes a back seat. For a sensitive person, this becomes frustrating because it often causes a person to feel unloveable, broken, and disconnected.

When fear becomes predominant it can literally blind ones internal guidance system.

The self-doubt created by fear can be paralyzing. Especially if one has made choices over and over that have lead to self-harming results.

Liberating oneself from fear can seem difficult.

Honor the fear and listen to its lessons. Fear exists for a reason. Fear is simply a protective device.

Events that happened in the past are not events happening now.

The intuition will communicate similarities and identify common traits from the past and bring them into the living moment. These are warning signals. If ignored, the fear becomes suppressed and can manifest. When brought into the light of consciousness, looked at, and a process of self-inquiry is engaged, the message fear contains can be recognized.

At that point, fear goggles lose their opacity and become transparent.

Past experiences provide wisdom for engaging in life as it unfolds now—and through honoring oneself and experiences of life’s journey, future harm can be avoided. Valuing the lessons learned, the perceptions and understanding gained, grants liberation.

Courage is as simple as looking at the fear and understanding what it is saying. It normally is saying, I don’t want to hurt, or be hurt again. And this situation, or person, is triggering me. Please take the time to value yourself and consider your choices.

Fear is a call to deepen love of oneself, to embrace life and appreciate family and time given before the reaper arrives.

Fear goggles can assist in making wiser choices in relationship to avoid harm and discover deeper truths, assisting in unbinding and allowing loves free flow to nurture body and soul.

There is nothing to fear—not even fear itself.

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Editor: Bryonie Wise

Photo: elephant journal