“Are you paralyzed with fear? That’s a good sign. Fear is good. Like self-doubt, fear is an indicator. Fear tells us what we have to do. Remember one rule of thumb: the more scared we are of a work or calling, the more sure we can be that we have to do it.”
~Steven Pressfield
Deep in our human collective conscious is the belief – a myth – that each of us comes into the world with a calling.
YOur soul knows its destiny.
This belief is well documented in mythology. Plato, in his “Myth of Er,” called this our paradeigma, meaning a basic form that encompasses our entire destinies. The accompanying image shadowing our lives is our bearer of fate and fortune.
This image is your Daimon, which expresses that unique something that you carry into the world that is particular to you.
The Greek’s called it your Daimon.
The Roman’s called it your Genius.
The Christian’s call it your Guardian Angel.
Each of these words has a slightly different meaning, yet each expresses something that we are, that we have, that’s not the same as the persona or identity that we think we are.
Your soul was given a Daimon – an image or pattern – you live out on earth.
This is your soul companion that guides you into the world. As you grow out of childhood into the great forgetting – the conditioning of your parents, culture, institutions and media – you forget your Daimon.
However, your Daimon never forgets your destiny.
It accompanies you throughout your life.
This myth provides a way of reflecting on life.
Plato believed those who think this way may find their lives will prosper.
Liz Gilbert notes in her Ted Talk, Your Elusive Creative Genius, that creativity and suffering are inherently linked and that we tend to think of artists as tortured and suffering for their craft.
Liz says that we need to look for models of saner ideas about how to help creative people manage the inherent emotional risks of creativity.
In Greece and Rome, they believed that creativity came to humans from a distance source.
Socrates believed he had a daimon that spoke to him.
The Romans believed this Genius would invisibly help artists make their art. The artist was viewed as “separate” from the creative entity.
In the Renaissance people began to believe that creativity came from the Self.
This changed the thinking from an externalized source – daimon or muse – to the concept that we are the source of our creativity.
People started to referring to certain artists as a genius.
This created challenges with performance.
I work with many entrepreneurs who are creating a new business. I work with this fear every day – multiple times a day.
There’s an inherent fear lurking underneath your passion for your art or your business.
As entrepreneurs, we’re all artists because we’re creating something out of nothing.
When you fear this creative genius – the touching of the divine sacred – you’re running away from the source of inspiration.
If you can learn to quiet yourself inside, sit with the fear and ask it what it wants you to know, you can work with it instead of running away from it.
Your job is to “be willing” to walk towards the fire of what you’re passionate about.
Keep showing up.
Each day I work with clients who want to feel confident that they can earn a good living doing work they’re passionate about.
Fear is always close and in fact the fear can be unnerving. There’s an energy that’s heightened and it can feel like fear but really it’s that you’re getting close to the sacred – you’re aligned with your purpose and passion.
Why is it that there is so much fear surrounding doing work we’re passionate about?
Eckhart Tolle said when he wrote a New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose, that the book was already “realized,” and that all he had to do was to sit down and write it.
Rabbi Alan Lew said that in Hebrew, fear has two definitions.
Yirah is the fear that you experience when you’re on sacred ground.
Rabbi Lew said Yirah is the fear that overcomes us when we suddenly find ourselves in possession of considerably more energy than we are used to, inhabiting a larger space than we are used to inhabiting.
As opposed to the hebrew word, pachad, the fear that triggers the flight or fight instinct.
Pachad is the fear you experience when your mind is thinking of a future situation that scares you.
It’s not real yet you believe it is. This is irrational thinking.
As entrepreneurs we fear failure, and we fear success.
The negative association with getting what you most want can cause your subconscious mind to keep you safe (that’s it’s job). It will self-sabatoge your success without you being conscious of what you’re doing.
If you worry that when you take that promotion, you will have to spend more time at work and not with your family, that will have an impact on your actions.
Your subconscious governs 95% of your habits and behaviors.
What would it take for you to take small steps toward your life’s passion?
Who do you need to become to stay the course and walk through your fears, limiting beliefs and harsh self-talk?
Would you need to be more courageous?
More compassionate towards yourself?
What resources do you need to stay the course and not reject yourself before you even start or make it work?
I want you to learn to ask yourself this question:
“What would it take for me to ________________?
I have the opportunity to be a witness when my clients step onto this sacred ground. It’s magical.
I feel it in my body.
I get goosebumps on my flesh.
I get tears in my eyes.
Stop looking outside yourself.
Make space for this Genius to flow through you.
Allow the Muse to come visit.
Your job is to put in the work to do what’s necessary.
Start looking inward and when you feel you’re in the presence of something you’re passionate about, stay with it.
Don’t run.
When you choose to show up, you are doing your job. Put in the time and effort needed and practice opening yourself to the divine – your Daimon – is a field or energy that is with you at all times.
It’s up to you to tap into it and to be open to it flowing through you.
I believe when you get to close to your dream or passion, you are in Yirah – you are in “awe” of the divine.
We are in awe of the God in us.
This is your life’s purpose – to harness the gifts and talents that only you have. It’s your own blend of your original medicine. We need that from you.
Need Help With Your Business?
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Have you ever had the experience of writing a piece and looking at it later and wonder how those words came through you to the page?
Have you had your own experience of Yirah? You know I love to hear from you. If you liked this article, please share it socially.