Over and over again in sacred scripture, we are admonished to release fear and to trust. But life itself is often scary and fear spreads faster and more effectively than the COVID-19 virus.
Dictonary.com defines fear as “a distressing emotion aroused by impending danger, evil, pain, etc., whether the threat is real or imagined.” And our governmental officials have moved from fear to panic: “a sudden overwhelming fear, with or without cause, that produces hysterical or irrational behavior, and that often spreads quickly through a group of persons or animals.”
Fear has a biological component of powerful hormones that prepare us to flee, fight, or freeze (the Hypothalamus-Pituitary-Adrenal response). If constantly triggered, it becomes chronic stress. That, combined with our inability to think clearly when afraid, makes living in fear a dangerous way of being.
So how do we address it? And why is sacred scripture always counseling us to fear not?
We address the physical symptoms first. Calming our body with deep breathing and consciously choosing our thoughts through prayer and meditation short-circuits the HPA hormone cascade, replacing those potentially destructive hormones with calming ones that enable us to think clearly again.
Then in prayer, we choose to focus on our unbreakable connection with God, our Source. We remind ourselves that we live in a Sacred Universe created in Love; we are never truly alone. We focus our attention on what we have and what we can do. We remember that we are our brother’s and sister’s keepers.
We are not victims. We are humans imbued with a spark of the Divine. God is in all of us and thus we are all connected. Let us remember this truth.