There are many different perspectives in both life and in astrology. So often the impulses and the emotions we feel describe but one side of the coin.  The other side, while part of the same congruent whole, represents an alternative choice of how we can utilize this currency. 

Fear hardly ever conjures up a positive image.  Rather, it is something that we would prefer to avoid. 

In life, fear is often related to situations in which we find ourselves facing the unknown, the unfamiliar, or the unexpected.   

Fear is sometimes a normal and rational response, as in cases where serious health problems present themselves or an emergency arises.  What we're focusing on here, however, are situations where we may benefit from being able to re-frame what we are feeling into a more positive and more appropriate emotion.  For example, there is a fine line between the feelings we would experience just before making a major presentation and just before jumping out of a plane on our first skydiving adventure.  Fear has a way of quickly heightening our senses to a fever-pitch, elevating our awareness, and putting all systems in "standby" mode, ready to react rapidly.

We must not allow ourselves to be paralyzed by what might happen.  If we permit fear to get firmly established, we can easily visualize the worst possible scenario or outcome.  In a futile attempt at self-protection we may find ourselves locked alone in the dark, as in Michael Pritchard's insightful quote above.  If we attempt to isolate ourselves from fear, we can easily lose our frame of reference and our connection to reality.  Our imagination can run roughshod over reality and propel us into a downward out-of-control spiral as we see negative attitudes and emotions become increasingly more oppressive.

Sometimes what we perceive as fear can be slightly tweaked in our minds into a much more productive and less threatening emotion.  One way for us to utilize the other side of the fear coin is to re-frame this potentially fear-inducing emotion as excitement or anticipation.

A very similar word—anxiety—is closely related to the word anxious.  Whereas anxiety has a negative connotation, being anxious suggests that we can hardly contain our anticipation as we wait for an event to occur. 

Much of what we experience in life is subject to interpretation based on our individual frame of reference.  Once we recognize this we can put our emotions into a constructive context that makes us eager to get on with change and much less likely to be immobilized as a result of fear.

©2001-2007 Don McBroom - Personal Astrological Consultations - Tucson, AZ (520) 298-3456

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