Question: You’ve spoken of how we use imagination to project negative outcomes to life situations. But sometimes things happen and there actually is a bad outcome to deal with. Maybe our loved one is very ill, or a child has gotten into trouble. Maybe we’ve lost our job. How do we deal with the fear that arises in situations of real adversity?

Answer: It’s actually very simple: Do what is in your power; refuse to do what is not. It’s not in your power to change the event; that’s over with and done. It is in your power to drop useless, unproductive negative states like fear, worry, etc. We can begin to see that negative states are passing themselves off as friends, as needed powers. We think that anger or fear is a kind of strength, and we should do what they tell us so that we will be free of them. But these are false guides and they do not want us to be free of them. If we follow what they tell us to do, we will be caught further in the trap of these negative states.

Here’s a little exercise to use when you find yourself being overwhelmed by fear. Start by coming wide awake — as present as possible — and ask yourself: Is this fear here to serve my best interests, or to steal from me the possibility of seeing just how useless it really is! By bringing the fear, or any negative state into the light of this higher awareness, you will see it for what it is, instead of how it wants to trick you into seeing it… as a friend and protector.