The 2 Different types of fear
Fear is a core human emotion that we all experience. It is part of our inbuilt programming and is a reason why we have survived and thrived.
As I’ve contemplated and studied fear I’ve learnt that there are two types of fear that will show up in our life.
FEAR 1- Is the crippling fear that holds us back. It causes us to self-doubt and self-sabotage. It’s the fear of ‘what if’ and projecting the worst case scenario into the future.
FEAR 2 - Is the fear that we feel when we’re stepping into a new energy, into new shoes, when we’re growing as a human being in our life.
In Tara Mohr’s book ‘Playing Big’ she describes these two types of fear perfectly, which she learnt from a Rabbi. She explains….
‘The Hebrew Bible uses two different words for fear.
Pachad…. is the fear of projecting imagined things, “the fear of the phantom, the fear whose object is imagined.” Pachad is the overreactive, irrational fear that stems from worries about what could happen, about the worst-case scenarios we imagine.
The second word is Yirah, which has 3 different meanings:
It is the feeling that overcomes us when we inhabit a larger space than we are used to.
It is the feeling we experience when we suddenly come into possession of considerably more energy than we had before.
It is what we feel in the presence of the divine.’
So you can clearly see there is one that we want to experience and one that we don’t want to let govern us.
The interesting thing to notice is that FEAR 1 (Pachad) can show up when we’re experiencing FEAR 2 (Yirah). The more we can understand this and see this the more we can call it out.
When I’m experiencing FEAR 1 because I’m in FEAR 2 I will say to myself that this (being the self-doubt or procrastination, which is how FEAR 1 might manifest) is a sign of growth. It’s actually a good thing….. and once I call it out I feel excited that I’m in the energy growth.
We want to be feeling FEAR 2 in our life as otherwise we’ll most likely be feeling stuck or stagnant / we’ll probably be somewhere we don’t want to be.
To feel unstuck, to feel in flow, to feel that life is progressing for you, you have to step into an element of fear.
We can’t stay in our comfort zone and live the life we dream of. It doesn’t work like that. We have to get uncomfortable, we have to step into fear, we have to ask ourselves questions and challenge ourselves.
Here are some questions you can ask yourself…..
What is it that I want to create for myself one year from now?
What do I want in life? What is my hearts greatest desire?
How do I want to feel every single day?
What is stopping me and blocking me from having the above now? Why am I not there now?
Who do I need to become and what energy do I need to cultivate to move towards that place?
What actions (that may feel a little scary) can I take tomorrow to move towards that place?
If you struggle with FEAR 1 check out this blog post HERE.
If you’d like to understand yourself more and how to be more in FEAR 2 I offer a 1-1 coaching programme called ‘Expansion’. The first session is FREE. You can book by emailing me directly.