I’m always afraid that existence won’t support me and I’ll die if I let go of control. In my fear, I close off to life and others. How can I break free from this fear? 

Your fear is a blessing. It is giving you an opportunity to disidentify from your mind and learn to trust the unknown. The mind can never trust or surrender. Trust always happens through intelligence and consciousness. The mind always asks for guarantees, but life never offers any. Life unfolds moment to moment, and each moment arises as a result of the moment that was surrendered before it. Life is a surprise that always arises out of the unknown. You can either embrace the unknown and live it fully and joyously, or resist it and live in pain, fear, and struggle.

To break free from the fear of the unknown embrace the fear and let go of your concern about the past or the future. Don’t hold on to what has already happened or control what is to come. Then, try to understand the cause of your fear. Go into the fear and feel it fully. Don’t run away from it by diverting your attention. Stay focused and watch. As you are feeling the fear, ask yourself what will happen if you surrender to it. Observe any thoughts and emotions that come up without judging or avoiding what you see and feel. Then, give yourself permission to express out loud to yourself what you think and feel, as many times as you need, until you feel that the fear changes into awareness and trust. Expression will help free your energy of the suppressed thoughts and emotions associated with the fear and will naturally transform your unconscious energy into consciousness. This is the fastest and easiest way to understand the cause of your fear and transform it into trust.

Excerpted from: In Search of the Miraculous: Healing into Consciousness