Transforming Fear into Clarity and Wisdom

Tomorrow marks the Beginning of Winter according to the Chinese “organic” calendar and the 24 solar terms. And the Element of the Season is Water.

In the Five Phase Theory, when the Water Element is out of balance, we experience fear, insecurity, and loneliness. I believe that fear is our primary emotion, the one that hides behind many other emotional states. Fear and insecurity are born from a very primitive feeling related to the need to survive. Because of this, we have this “natural” tendency to fear what is different or unknown. For our nervous system, it is a matter of safety, a matter of life and death.

There are many reasons to be afraid or feel insecure. Between climate change, wars, unstable global leadership, and more personal challenges like health, parenting, finances, and aging, we are likely to be caught in fear more often than we would like.

On the other end of the spectrum, the original state of harmony related to the Element of Water and Winter is Clarity. When we think of the physical characteristics of water: transparency, limpidity, purity, odorless and tasteless, we can get a sense of what this end of the spectrum feels like and what it means to live with Clarity.

When we are caught in fear, the signals received by our body, our bodily sensations are uncomfortable and push us to react quickly and often forcefully in order to get rid of this discomfort. Our hearts and minds are clouded by the uncertainty and ambiguity of what we are facing. Not knowing, not understanding places us at first in a state of agitation but can eventually lead us to freeze if these feelings of fear or insecurity are prolonged, not acknowledged, or if the shock is very great.

Developing a healthy relationship with fear and insecurity is what will help us develop simplicity, lucidity and Clarity in our lives.  To achieve this, we draw on the spirit of the Season, the Zhi which in English translates to will or determination. Supported by the Zhi, we can metabolize and transform the energy of Fear into Clarity and ultimately gain valuable insights and develop and embody Wisdom, the Virtue of the season. I like to think of it as water transforming into different phases: ice becoming water becoming steam.

The Zhi provides the focused energy needed to access our inner strength—sometimes a power we didn’t even know we had—and demonstrate perseverance and tenacity in the face of life’s challenges. The Zhi helps us cultivate receptivity, curiosity, and ease and flow, essential qualities associated with the Element of Water, to learn to navigate fear and insecurity in a healthier and more balanced way.

Receptivity

To me, receptivity refers to the ability to use an expanded state of consciousness to absorb and include EVERYTHING that life offers us. The Oxford Dictionary calls it a willingness to receive. In my experience, willingness is non-action. Rather, it is about allowing, and in this case receptivity is about allowing the creation of space within us, the creation of an opening, which makes us aware of the possibilities that exist.

Stillness and silence have proven to be very useful tools and practices for me in creating this openness and space. When we stand/sit/lie still and in silence, we “listen”, feel and access a more subtle energy in our body, heart and mind. Recognizing and harnessing this energy helps us to navigate the fear and insecurity that the challenges of our lives bring and transform them into greater Clarity.

Curiosity

I believe that ignorance is often at the root of our fears. The human brain is designed to interpret what it perceives and draw conclusions from this interpretation. To do this, when faced with the unknown, it creates stories to make sense of what is perceived. However, these stories are based on assumptions or beliefs and are not rooted in truth, but rather are developed from a fixed mindset that life is unchanging. What is more true is that everything changes and to understand more clearly what we are facing and reduce the fear of difference and the unknown, we must cultivate an open mindset and curiosity.

Of course, we can turn our curiosity towards others and the outside world by asking questions or reading about a specific topic. But my main practice is to turn this curiosity towards myself and to practice an honest and deep inquiry into my personal experience and then better adapt my response to the outside world.

What am I experiencing? How am I feeling? What do I believe? Is it true? Is it really true? What does my body say about it? How can I be kind to my fear?

This sense of curiosity is accompanied by a non-judgmental attitude. Welcoming any new discovery like an explorer who encounters for the very first time a new fact, a new element in her exploratory adventure.

Ease and flow

Water knows ease and flow generally finding the easiest path, the simplest way to reach the valley. Practicing ease and flow is an invitation to let fear and insecurity move freely through us and to ourselves remain in motion in the face of adversity.

Freezing or resisting, at the other end of the spectrum, requires much more effort, much more energy and most of the time leads us to more suffering and prevents us from moving forward with Clarity. What we resist, persists!

Cultivating ease and flow is not about denying our fear, but on the contrary, recognizing it, welcoming it, taming it and letting it circulate in our body. This is again an invitation, this time to stay in motion, to act with intention and find ways to work around obstacles rather than confront them head on.

For me, practices like mindfulness, deep breathing and Qigong are valuable tools that help me develop more ease and flow in my life and use them in times of crisis.

The Yin energy of winter is conducive to introspection and reflection and a good time to investigate the nature of our fears and transform their reactive energy by cultivating receptivity, curiosity, and ease and flow in order to gain Clarity and come closer to a more solid embodiment of Wisdom.

Transforming our fears and insecurities frees up energy (sometimes stuck for years) and allows us to feel lighter and more energetic. This extra energy can then be redirected towards healthier intentions and help us move forward and fully Unleash our Potential.