Oh. My. Goodness. Today is the First Anniversary of The Art of Redefining Yourself! What an amazing journey it has been! So many things I’ve learned, so many beautiful people I’ve got to meet and such wholehearted projects I was involved with.

But I gotta keep it real; one of the things I’ve been through over and over again during this whole past year was FEAR. A mixture of a knot in my belly and excitement at the same time. Do you know what I’m talking about?

Probably yes.

So today let’s talk about Fear — not the “don’t enter that dark suspicious alley” kind of fear, but the “I’m not good enough”, “Who am I to do this?”, “I’m not ready” kind of fear.

And trust me, as an introvert and shy Earthling putting herself out there publicly, I’ve been here over and over again.

The thing is, our brain is old — like thousands of years old — and back then our ancestors needed fear to survive and thrive. They needed to be in constant fear and alert, otherwise, they would end up as some wild animal’s meal.

Nowadays things are better — waaaaaay better!

Still, every time we’re called to do something different and that challenges our status quo, we get scared. And feeling fear and doubt is okay, as long as you don’t allow it to paralyze your actions and stop you from making the difference you’re born to make in this world.

Was I scared when I rolled with my rolling chair onto that plane to fly to Germany and left everyone and everything I had known so far behind? Hell yes!

Was I scared when I hit publish on The Art of Redefining Yourself and showed the “real me”? Hell yes!

Was I scared when I uploaded my scholarship video for Marie Forleo when I was so aware of my voice being weak and unclear? Holy cow yes!

This video was one of the scariest things I had done in a while. The thought of filming and then publishing it to, what I knew, a lot of people would watch was so unnerving. I’m much more comfortable when I’m writing — even though articles like this one also give me the belly knots. Still, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I HAD TO DO IT — just like with the other things. I knew that it wasn’t about me. It was part of a much greater plan and that I had to play my role in it.

BUT, HOW DO WE KNOW IF OUR FEAR IS ACTUALLY PROTECTING US OR WE’RE JUST UNCOMFORTABLE WITH STEPPING OUT OF OUR COMFORT ZONE?

Well, as a matter of fact, I’ve learned that there are 4 ways to figure it out. I’ve been relying on these 4 practises for this past year — some even longer than that. They have been serving me greatly and today I’ll share them with you.

1. Trust Your Emotional Guidance System

That’s a lesson I’ve learned from the metaphysical teacher Abraham-Hicks many years ago. We’re all born with this Emotional Guidance, which is HOW WE FEEL. Yes, it is that simple (and not so simple at the same time, but life is just a conundrum of paradoxes, folks).

We react with our feelings to every single thing that we do. Sometimes we feel good, we feel right and sometimes we don’t. To explain in a quite easy way, every time we feel good it’s an indication we are in alignment with our Inner Intelligence — our Spirit, our Soul, our Source, whatever you wanna name it — and that means we’re on the right path. Consequently, when we don’t feel good or something doesn’t feel right, that is a sign we need to realign with our Inner Intelligence.

As my personal example, when I thought about The Art of Redefining Yourself I felt scared. Now, you’d think Fear fits the “not feeling good” pile, right? And that’s accurate many times but not always. Growth feels uncomfortable because it’s new; it’s stepping out of the comfort zone; it’s sending messages to the brain like “I’m braving the wilderness and I may not survive!” and the brain is like: “RED ALERT! ALL HANDS TO BATTLE STATIONS!”

However, with all that fear I also was experiencing Excitement. It felt right! It’s actually hard to put into mere words. That’s when we ask for the help of our body…

2. Trust Your Physical Guidance System

This is something I’ve learned from my mentor Marie Forleo. Our physical body also shows us signs of alignment or misalignment.

For instance, when I was thinking about The Art of Redefining Yourself I felt butterflies of excitement in my belly, even though there was also fear involved. I felt my chest lifting and my whole upper body opening, E X P A N D I N G. This word is key here and it’s an alignment sign.

Now, I got a big audience on that article but I wanted more people to read it. However, I didn’t feel right about pushing my post to everyone, sharing the link multiple times a day. I felt CONTRACTED. A feeling of tight heart and a dread in general in my chest. For me, that was a big no-no sign.

3. Ask Your Loved Ones

For this one to be accurate, you gotta keep in mind that your loved one must be someone you trust and who’ll tell the good and bad feedback. And sometimes that might not be something you wanna hear, but trust me: it’s should be that way. We’re never always right or wrong.

Now that you have your trustworthy loved one, start talking to her/him about the thing you wanna do! When we talk verbally about something that scares but also excites us, we light up. It’s just the way it is. We have a funky smile while talking, the tone of our voice goes up and down and up up up like a rollercoaster.

And the same works for the dread fear feeling. Your facial expression, your voice, your body language go down. Surely, your loved one can tell the difference — and so can you.

4. Ask Through Prayer

This is a relatively new one to me. I’ve learned this from spiritual teachers Marianne Williamson and Gabrielle Bernstein.

All my life I’ve been a doer, a go-getter and sometimes it’s really hard because there are so many things I wish to do but my physical body limits me. That’s when I learned the concept of Surrender. And I’m not exaggerating when I say that when I stopped to try and control everything around me, it’s when I finally started to bloom, just like these early bloomers on the snow.

Maybe you’ve gone through all of the other three pieces of advice I’ve passed onto you but you’re still scared and don’t know what to do. I’ve been there and now I’ll tell you the most important of them all: It Is Time To Surrender. Forget what you think you need to have or do. Ask God and the Universe for guidance. Ask it through prayer. It’s the law; when you ask, you will receive. Maybe you’re just not listening.

We’re all born with this direct line to God and I believe that He speaks through us. You just need to pay attention and listen to that little voice of wisdom inside you. It might come in the most unexpected ways — someone tells you something that clicks in your head, or you read it somewhere, it could be anything! If you’re a member of the LL Collective you know the form I received my signs.

And then after you received your signs and guidance, take inspired action and go get it!

You know that video I was talking about up there? I never for a minute thought about not doing it. As I said earlier, I’ve been relying on those 4 practises for more than a year and I knew better than giving in to my fears. Even though I was scared as hell, I wanted to do it. Something inside me knew I had to make that video. And this opportunity only came to me because of The Art of Redefining Yourself — another one I just knew I had to go for.

One week later, I’ve received the magnificent news I had been chosen to receive one of the scholarships — alongside 17 other beautiful souls! Am I scared again? OH MY GOODNESS, YES! But you know what? If I wait until I ”think“ I’m ready and not scared anymore I’ll be wasting time because most likely I’ll never feel ready. And honestly, God and the Universe presented me with this opportunity at the right time and I trust Him.

When I think back, I remember of experiencing those feelings of fear and excitement about The Art of Redefining Yourself, as well. But I couldn’t have chosen a better time to publish it. I’m beyond grateful and deeply honoured to have this growing community here and I’m committed to the best of my abilities to make a stand for kindness, respect and integrity, as much as learning, teaching and using the tools to make a difference in the world — because YES, WE CAN CHANGE THE WORLD, and that starts with ourselves, one Redefinition at a time. Then, we bring that new attitude to the world and by doing so, we change it.

I’ll conclude with this: There’s only one you. No one will ever have the same experiences, encounters, successes, failures, fears and what more than you will. You’re irreplaceable and unique. If you have something you need to do and share with the world — and the world can be as close as your neighbourhood — that you know it might serve someone, DO IT. Do it because if you don’t, no one else will.

As Marie always says: “The world needs that special gift that ONLY YOU have.”

NOW IT’S YOUR TURN: What’s that one thing you’ve been delaying to do because you think you’re not ready?

Think about it and WRITE IT DOWN, it can be in your journal or any piece of paper, the notes app on your phone,

OR

if you’re feeling brave enough to share, leave a comment — and I ask you to because one of the things that we, human beings, share is being scared from time to time, and we can all support each other!

Share with a friend or a family member who might be needing to read this.

Thank you so much for this past year! ❤

With all my love,

Lina