are you living a fearful life?

Something someone said to me recently caught my attention.

She said "aren't you afraid walking in forests by yourself?"

You see, at the moment, I tend to go out walking at the weekend on my own. My husband has a sore foot so can't walk for long so, as my hiking/walking partner can't join, I go it alone. And when I do I tend to stick more to valley walks rather than heading up mountains, mostly because I want to save the mountain experiences, which are usually really special, for the times when I'm with my husband.

So I go out walking in nature. And, in nature, there tend to be a lot of forests. So a lot of my walking involves walking through forests. And that's never even raised an eyebrow for me... until now. Until this person said to me "aren't you afraid walking in forests by yourself?"

It's not the first time she's said something like this to me. On previous occasions I've ignored her comments because I don't want to head down the same line of thinking that she's clearly thinking.

But here's the sneaky thing. If someone says something to you, especially if they say it a number of times, your attention and focus will hone in on what they've said to you, even if you don't realise it consciously.

Let me give you a fun example. What if I said to you: "don't think of a purple elephant flying through the sky". There's absolutely no way you didn't think of or, indeed, picture a purple elephant flying through the sky, right? Especially as I've literally just repeated the image of a purple elephant flying through the sky in my explanation.  And when I keep mentioning it you can't not think about or picture a purple elephant flying through the sky... you see... there I go again... it can get a bit annoying after a while so I'll not mention a purple elephant flying through the sky again.

So you get what I mean, right? If I suggest something to you, your mind cannot help but create a thought, image or picture in its mind that goes along with what I've just said.

The example I've just given you was fun but what if someone kept saying to you "are you not afraid walking in forests by yourself?" Clearly they're implying, according to their beliefs, that walking through forests on your own is dangerous and something that you should feel fearful of.

Here's what I've noticed from this very real example of how so many people live a fearful life.

I've spent the last few years enjoying all kinds of hikes with my husband. Enjoying being close to nature, enjoying recharging my batteries and getting back in balance. The sound of the birds, the stillness of the forest, the beauty of all that is around me.

Then my husband hurt his foot and we could no longer hike together. So I had the choice. Sit indoors with my husband or continue to go out hiking on my own. And I chose to go out hiking on my own.

I would happily walk through forests and meadows, alike, relishing the beauty of nature around me.

And then one day someone said to me "are you not afraid walking in forests by yourself?" I knew their comment came from a place of fear and I didn't want that in my life. I didn't want my thoughts to go down that road of fear because I knew if they did I'd spend every weekend sitting indoors with my husband rather than recharging my batteries in nature. So I ignored their comment.

Then a while later, they said the same thing to me again. Again, I ignored the comment.

And later, again, the same comment.

And you know what I noticed? I noticed that while I was walking through forests I started to feel a little uneasy, my mind would venture towards the "what if...?" scenarios that I knew were not mine, but the scenarios that the person who had a fear of forests.

So, even though I believed I had ignored their fear-based comments, even though I knew it was their fear and not mine, my mind still listened to them and subconsciously took them onboard and, before long, started to bring it to my consciousness until I found myself reacting to their fear. I could feel myself starting to take their fear onboard as if it were my own.

The next time she passed the comment after one of my hikes, I kindly asked her not to say (or even think) her fearful thoughts because I did not want to live the same fearful life that she was living. Her fear was rubbing off on me and creating a negative impact on my life.

And from that point forward, I decided to remove any opportunity for her to pass her fear onto me; I simply stopped talking about my hikes in nature with her. Not only did I want to avoid hearing her ask the question she always asked me, the question that was instilling her fear on me, I also did not want her to even think that fear for me.

Because, here's the thing, everything is energy. Words, actions, even thoughts, they're all energy. And energy isn't just created only to disappear like a burst bubble. It needs to move on or through something, it has direction and purpose. So even when someone has fearful thoughts, their energy can still impact your life.

And fear has a low vibration. And when you live in a low vibration you attract low vibrations to you. So if you live a fearful life, a life steeped in low vibrations, what experiences do you think you're going to attract into your life? Fear-based and low vibrational, right? Is that what you want in your life?

Of course it's not. You want to attract good experiences, fun, happiness, joy, love, abundance into your life, right? But good experiences, fun, happiness, joy, love, abundance, they're all high vibrational and at the opposite end of the spectrum to fear. And, as we know, only like attracts like, when we're talking energy. So to attract fun, love, joy etc into your life you need to raise your vibration to the same level.

And that's what I've been practising lately while I've been hiking... on my own.... through forests.

I've paid even more attention to the beauty that surrounds me, I've found beauty in the smallest flower, the tiniest butterfly that flutters in front of me, in the tallest and most magestic tree. And I express gratitude for it all.

As I'm walking and looking round, admiring the natural beauty surrounding me, I say "thank you"; "thank you angels for enabling me to enjoy such beauty", "thank you Mother Nature for surrounding me and recharging my batteries", "thank you Viv for having the health to enjoy life and all its natural beauty"... and I say it with a smile and with joy in my heart.

I see so many people living day-to-day embraced in fear; living fearful lives. And most of the time they don't even realise they are doing so.

"If you don't buy this within the next 24 hours, you'll miss out on $500 worth of free bonuses", "if you climb that tree, little Johnnie, you'll fall", "if you laugh too much you'll end up crying", "if you walk through the forest on your own, you'll get attacked"...

Over the past while I've wakened up and become more aware of how fear is penetrating my life. And wherever I can, I turn my back to it and replace the fear-based words, actions, thoughts into love-based ones. And I invite you to do the same.

Living with a high vibration takes time and patience because most of our lives have been fearful, or fear-filled. It's like learning to flex a muscle that you'd forgotten you had or one you've only just discovered. But just like with flexing a muscle, through time it'll grow in strength.

So, go on, start flexing your high vibrational muscle today and welcome more happiness, joy and abundance into your life.

                                                                                                                                          ~

Fear  is just one negative emotion. But it's not the only one. Negative emotions can range from emotions like sadness and frustration, to emotions such as anger, hate, and even grief.

Would you like to know how to better cope with each negative emotion you experience? I asked the angels for guidance on exactly that.

Viv xx