A Healer\’s Journey Part 3: If My Fear were a Compass Where Would it Point Me? Late joining this series? Catch up from the beginning with Part 1 or from last week\’s Part 2!
Healers have a huge mission in the world.
We opted into the challenge of facilitating a process by which people peel off the layers physical, mental, emotional and/or spiritual gunk preventing their peak health and happiness. Part of this job is to tell our own story, to help others understand: they’re not alone, pain can be transformed, and there’s purpose to their journey.
We all feel fear. The trick is to feel it and do it anyway.
As a healer, we have a particularly important duty to practice this and shift from allowing fear to paralyze us, to using it as a compass. Fear is just a feeling in the body. When we recognize it, we can use it to point us in the direction of our purpose, mission, and calling in the world.
For the purpose of this blog, I’ll be talking about the kind of fear that’s more excitement fear rather than survival fear. We all have a necessary survival kind of fear that keeps us safe in the world. The trick is differentiating it from the kind that gets in the way of your biggest desires, dreams, and goals as a healer.
As you practice feeling, you’ll notice that fear is associated with particular sensations.
When you get good at recognizing them you’ll be getting in touch with one of your most powerful senses, your intuition. The body sends messages all day. It’s a matter of learning that language.
A few years ago, I flew out to Arizona to take a continuing education class. Quantum Leap was an advanced John F. Barnes Myofascial Release course, and I was looking forward to being there with two hundred other healers and hands-on therapists from around the world. During my flight, I had an incredible urge to grab my journal. When I was done, I put it back in my purse and didn’t think too much about it, until the next morning when I sat in my seat at class.
The voice in my head said, “this wasn’t meant just for you.”
You need to read this to the class. As our instructor introduced himself and began taking questions and comments from the crowd, I sat in my seat too afraid to raise my hand.
At our first break, I got my nerve up and went to ask the instructor if I could read my journal entry. He said yes. From the moment after that, until the moment he got back up on stage and said, “There’s someone who wanted to share?” I was petrified. The fear in me before seemed to have multiplied, causing my whole body to shake. But I knew this was going to happen.
I stood up in the middle of two hundred people and read my journal entry, titled God on the Plane, to the group. My voice was strong and steady while my hands shook the pages of the journal. I did not miss one word. Nobody had to ask me to speak up.
It was as if someone else was reading through the fear.
Afterward, when we had our next break, one of my colleagues came up to me and said, “Thank you so much for reading your poem to us!” Poem? I thought.
After the following four days with my healer friends, I did indeed move through a quantum leap, of sorts. I found a chunk of my worth I thought I’d lost. I became a poet. And I began writing and sharing those poems, over forty-eight of them, over the next couple months. I finally had permission to be me, and to express her to the world.
Let’s explore this final question: If my fear were a compass, where would it be pointing me?
We’ll follow the same process from Part 1 and 2:
Settle into your chair, close your eyes and take several deep, low breaths. Relax into your body and clear your mind. Release the physical tension by unclenching everything with each exhale. Do this for a few minutes before you begin writing.
Set your timer for five minutes and write as fast as you can until it goes off. Try not to censor this writing. Let it flow without worrying about spelling, punctuation or grammar. Connect with a deeper voice and let that voice be expressed on the page.
Now I’d like you to read what you wrote out loud. This could be to yourself or a trusted friend if you have that opportunity. Feel the words as they vibrate through your throat, over your tongue and move out of you. How does that feel?
The kind of fear that sabotages your purpose, mission and calling as a healer is meant to be overcome. With awareness, there’s always a choice. We can choose to think, believe and act differently, even do the thing we’re most afraid to do – because we know it aligns with our deepest desires, dreams, and goals.
What will it take to begin to share your healing story with the world?
If you’re interested in going deeper, join me for a special free class on March 1, 2018: Intuitive Writing for Healers; Your Story Can Heal the World! Sharing my secrets, I’ll help you practice this powerful process, and inspire you to start writing and sharing your healing stories with the world!
– Laura
Enroll in Laura’s Free Writer’s Workshop Now
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Laura Di Franco, MPT is an intuitive writing strategist, holistic physical therapist, published author, poet and third-degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do with over two decades of experience in healing. She teaches transformational tools and powerful strategy for nourishing and inspiring your fiercely alive whole self. Learn more about Laura on her website.
