How to trust the universe

"Feel the fear and do it anyway," Claudia Knepshield- my mother

Fear. Anxiety. Doubt. Call it whatever word you'd like, but it's still there. Although fear can be a great compass to help us misstep bad and unfortunate situations, fear also holds us back.

There are two ways to handle a situation that is out of your control:

1.) Stress out about it. Lose sleep. Eat less. Tell everyone about it. Make it a HUGE DRAMATIC story that gets in the way of living. Fear for the worst. Talk yourself out of your dreams. Go through, mark all the tiny mistakes you made, and assume that you failed.

2.) Trust in the power of universe, sit back, relax, and prepare for the best.

There are two different mindsets and approaches when dealing with fear: either run from it or learn to live with it.

In Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert she explains that fear doesn't make us special or help us become the person we want to be,

“For the entirety of my young and skittish life, I had fixated upon my fear as if it were the most interesting thing about me, when it was the most mundane. In fact, my fear was probably the only 100 percent mundane thing about me. I had creativity within me that was original; I had a personality within me that was original; I had dreams and perspectives and aspirations within me that were original. But my fear was not original in the least. My fear wasn’t some kind of rare artisanal object; it was just a mass produced item, available on the shelves of any generic box store.” Gilbert claims that no one receives special brownie points for fear of the unknown. She also states that fear doesn’t come from a place of high intelligence because it’s a deep animalistic instinct used as an evolutionary tool. Gilbert’s close relationship with fear shows that it is possible to live a passion filled life while learning how to control fear.

Because fear stops us from doing the next big thing; it’s imperative that we learn how to live with our fear, rather than our fear dictating our decisions.

Likewise, In You are a Badass at Making Money by Jen Sincero, she states that fear is always part of the equation when busting limiting beliefs. Some of my top quotes from her ideology on fear include:

“You have to want your dreams more than you want your drama,”

“Worrying is praying for stuff you don’t want to happen,”

“When it comes to changing your life, if you’re not scared, you’re doing something wrong.”

Sincero describes that fear can be used as a direction to help us change our lives, but at the same time we may be using fear as a tool to keep us safe (in our cuddling, sad, too small comfort zones).

She states, “We don’t want to believe that things could be easy, to give up our right to feel sorry for ourselves, to relinquish the comfort we take in knowing a thing or two based on our past experiences, and to, erm take responsibility for our lives.” Realizing that fear is holding you back is a key step in order to start making changes in your life.

So if we can’t get rid of fear, then how to we stop allowing it to control our lives?

1.) Realize what you’re sacred of

2.) Rewrite the narrative you are looping through your brain

3.) Take Action

4.) Trust in the Universe

But what if I can’t trust in the universe?

1.) Meditate more

2.) Start reading more personal development books

3.) Find a life coach or group of people who are motivated and self-aware

4.) Make a strong list of reasons why you can trust in the universe: Think about specific times that things have worked out before, things that worked in favor out of the blue, etc.

5.) Also think about all the times that things haven’t worked out because of fear

What does trusting the universe look like?

Trusting the universe means that you realize that you have done 100% of the effort on your part and you are taking a hands off approach afterwards. Find the peace in knowing the universe has it from here. Don't focus on the outcome; focus on the process. If it happens- great! If it doesn't happen- okay what have I learned, and what next step will I take next?

No one likes to be micromanaged; so why would the universe?

Happy Thursday!