In this post, you will learn some powerful tips for working through personal fear.
The main word we will use this month is triggered. People will be triggered this month by just about everything. There is an emotional component to the month potentially infusing hysteria and irrationality to some of what is being triggered. Navigating through what is real in your experience today and what belongs to some deeply hidden (up till now) past wound will be the main work and challenge. As always, there is a tremendous opportunity to change and release the past that still triggers and runs you today.
We will be dealing a lot with fear and most of it has no reality base in present time. You will see that fear is almost always about the past or about the future, neither of which really exist. Reactions are usually fear-based and have no power. True action comes from the power of choice and decision.
The energy of the month is very yang and aggressive whether you are in the “reaction” or in the “action” part of it. The masculine quality provides an opportunity to practice right action and the positive aspects of the masculine, but reactivity may also show up as a negative aspect and something to be aware of, both in yourself and in others.
August’s theme of power continues in the background and insures that actions and reactions are powerful, forceful, sudden and explosive. This can be either a very good thing, or an intense challenge. For some, this time will show up as a great open door of possibilities for right action, right work and tremendous movement and manifesting. For others, it will be a challenge just to stay in neutral gear and not become mired in a reactive place of fear. What comes to mind is Thor’s Hammer. In Norse Mythology, Thor is a god associated with thunder. His Hammer is one of the most fearsome of weapons, capable of leveling mountains. Though generally recognized and depicted as a hammer, it is sometimes referred to as an axe or club. In wielding the hammer, Thor
“Would be able to strike as firmly as he wanted, whatever his aim, and the hammer would never fail, and if he threw it at something, it would never miss and never fly so far from his hand that it would not find its way back, and when he wanted, it would be so small that it could be carried inside his tunic.”
Thor’s hammer is descriptive of what we have this month. Either you will get hit with it or you will wield it. You decide. The image and symbolism of throwing the hammer is about taking deliberate and specific action. Specific and deliberate action is not a reaction or an action taken out of reaction. It is a choice. If you are taking action from a place of “being left no choice” you are acting out of reaction and there is no power in that. When you wield Thor’s hammer and throw your intention, choice, and motivation into an action for yourself and your own personal future, you can’t miss. The force of this dynamic energy will carry you forward into manifesting your future in the way you consciously choose. Wielding Thor’s hammer is not an ambivalent act. You don’t sort of throw it. You put 100% behind your choice, decision and action.
On the other hand, if you find yourself flattened by Thor’s Hammer, it means you have become mired in the quicksand of fear and reactivity that has made you a target. You will likely find that at this time you are inflexible, blaming, attached, stubborn, martyred, angry, judgmental, self-deprecating, full of regret, or trying to fix something that is not in your control or yours to fix. This is the place of feeling powerless to act. You got triggered by something or someone and did not stay neutral. If this happens, become neutral as quickly as possible, observe that you always have a choice, reflect on what action you choose to take in your life, and then do it. Use the image of having a “Thor’s Hammer” as your own ability to choose, intend and take powerful action. This is it. Do it now.
When you get triggered by an event, a person, or an experience, your reaction is almost always connected to a core issue that has its roots in the past. When any event happens in your life, the experience of it has to filter down into the instinctive center where over time it becomes a core belief. All childhood traumas and experiences are processed in this way especially during formative years and times of core imprinting. Usually similar events are re created, as they are magnetized to the pattern solidifying its identity as a core belief. So when you react strongly to something, you are reacting to very old information that has nothing to do with the present. This month provides a huge opportunity to follow the threads of your reactions to their core and uncover the old fears and beliefs that have been running you your whole life. The task is to take action and throw that hammer at them, eliminating them for good.
As you take advantage of this time and go deeply into following the threads of your reactions to their core with the intention of eliminating those old beliefs and patterns, make sure you have something to replace them with. Nature abhors a vacuum and you want to be able to decide what goes into that vacuum of available space once it is cleared. It is also very threatening to your personality and instinctive center to all of a sudden change everything. We always suggest doing this gradually. Remember the bid for power information about being ready and not taking on more than you can handle. It is OK to do this little by little and to get help. The most important thing is to pay attention to where and how you react.
Because of the emotional aspect of the month, you may experience mood swings in yourself and in others. One day up, the next down; one day pleased with your actions, the next day confused and despairing; one day happy with life and everyone in it, the next day angry and cynical. Just remember that much of what is surfacing is not of the present. Don’t get stuck in feeling badly or trying to analyze as it probably will not make much sense. Movement is key. Change something, clean out a junk drawer, and throw away something old. Get up and move around, change your position, take a walk, go outside. Use your breath to release the charge behind your reaction.
Working through FEAR.
When you react, immediately ask yourself, ”What is the fear?”
Then look to see if the fear is real in what is happening to you right at that moment. Chances are it is not. For example, if you get a letter from someone or something you identify as an authority (IRS, bank, creditor, court, lawyer, someone you owe something to….), you may react and that reaction may have fear under it. What is the fear? Follow the thread. Notice that the fear is not founded in any experience you are having right at the present moment where you may be cooking a nice meal or having a good conversation or enjoying a cup of tea or a good walk with your dog. These fears are always about something possible in the future that has not happened yet. Always bring yourself back to the present, move the fear aside and focus instead on taking whatever action you need to take from your own choices and personal power. One of the hardest choices and action to take is to ask for help. Sometimes you need to ask for help. If you do ask, ask with the powerful intention of getting help and not with the belief that you won’t get it because you don’t deserve it or it has never been there for you and does not exist.
How do you deal with others that are triggered around you?
You come from a place of compassion. You stay uninvolved in their drama. You do not try and fix it for them. You do not take it personally, as it almost never is, since it is connected to their own past and not yours. You serve, help and support through your own right action as an example they can choose to follow or not. It is painful to see people you care about mired in their own reactions. But jumping in there with them means that now there are two of you mired and powerless. You may wish to physically remove yourself from any situation that is particularly toxic.
The above is an excerpt from the monthly forecast.
The author of this commentary, Lena Stevens, is the co-founder of an international school and consulting firm dedicated to the study and application of shamanism and wisdom. Lena Stevens has co-authored books with Jose Stevens, Ph.D., such as Secrets of Shamanism:Tapping the Spirit Power Within You.