When Fear Runs the Show

“Do exactly what you are asked of and nothing more.” - Shandor Remete

How often are we doing more than we are asked of? Not what other people expect of us, but more than our energy is communicating. When we push beyond our internal limits to meet some projected image of accomplishment. However righteous this may seem, it’s still righteous. In my experience, putting out more energy than necessary tasks the nervous system over time.

We all are subject to the collective “post-modern” mind that is innovative beyond its capacity to see that it is destroying itself. A world that has agreed, whether conscious or unconscious, more is better and the faster it comes the higher the utility. A place that has forgotten to listen to nature and its laws in exchange for an attempt to transcend what is natural.

This leads me to question how much our innovation is sustainable. We are commonly off and running with one thing before we have finished and integrated the last. This hurried quality is noticeable in myself and it also scales to the collective. There are many things that make it seem like we’re progressing, but maybe we’re just spinning in circles. Maybe we are doing more than we are asked of because we are scared that, if we don’t, we will lose out on something.

When we are doing more than we are asked, fear is running the show. It comes from a paradigm of scarcity. Money, resources, time - the pressure’s on. When the pressure’s on, there’s no time to check in with our energy levels. Once fear is driving the bus, it takes a crisis to slow the movement. In other words, we burn out.

I do believe life requires more of us sometimes. Where we put in a higher amount of effort and focus than we would normally. We can see that is different than doing more than we are asked, though, because the circumstances require such efforts. These periods will never last longer than necessary. The pendulum will swing the other way. We must understand that we will have to recover from a period of intensity at some point. It is natural that everything is balanced in the end.

However, if we decide to continue to ride the wave of intensity past its due date, a price will be paid for that. This is where we end up carrying whatever was “extra.” Meaning, we process where we overextended ourselves. Where we crossed our own boundaries in order to to serve the fear of not doing or being enough. If we don’t have enough space to check-in with ourselves, we will run with fear until our system shuts down completely.

The analogy of needing fuel to run a car can further illuminate this process. You can run your car on empty for a while, but you have to fill up the gas tank at some point. If you stopped on the side of the road because you ran out of gas, it’s more complicated to fill up your tank than driving into the gas station just before you ran out. This is allegorical to when we run on empty for too long. We take more effort to recover than we would have if we stopped for rest before we burnt out.

Nevertheless, when fear is in control, we are not consciously choosing to run on empty. So, it’s common that we don’t even recognize our energy levels are running on fumes. It takes an inner awareness, or authenticity, to understand when we have done our part completely. We must find the courage within so that we refrain from relying on external means to show us where we stand.

The world will continue to ask more of us if our boundaries are not clear. Finding our limits takes radical acceptance and a gentle collaboration with life. A knowing that there is an internal authority that is closer to home than any external reflection of such. Therefore, an unshakeable listening. This takes great discernment to cultivate, but I believe if we are committed it will slowly develop over time.

We must do exactly what our energy is asking of us. Otherwise, we will find ourselves lost, confused, living someone else’s life, and or processing the extra energy we spent. To me, this is what they refer to in the yogic tradition as brahmacharya. A “conservation of energy” but, more distinctly, such a deep connection with ourselves that we never expend more than we need to. In other words, we never run out of fuel. Our energy is always moving forward with life.

The empowered one knows when her efforts have taken her to the edge and she goes no further. Little by little she expands her ability to respond to life and lives in its currents. More responsibility comes naturally and she listens by doing exactly what she is asked.

And “when her work is done, she forgets it. That’s why it lasts forever.” - Lao-tzu