Dealing with Fear
In the silence of this moment, everything is okay. If my mind starts up again, chattering about the future, it can get ‘lost’ momentarily in the chatter. Then fear can arise, and the whole 
ego-process can start up again. This is the path of delusion, physiological contraction, and unnecessary suffering.
Sometimes this whole process can be hidden in the hustle and bustle of taking care of daily business. This is true, especially if something challenging has come along in the external reality, and I have to ‘keep going anyway.’ If that happens, though, there will be a physiological “signal” that the mind has ‘gone off the rails of reality’ and into ‘fantasy land’ or ‘catastrophe land.’ Usually it’s physical tension in the body. That tension is an indicator that there is some self-inquiry to do.
Usually, at that point, I start to ask a simple question, ‘when did I start to feel the body contract?’ That’s followed by ‘what was I thinking about when my body started contracting?’ Then finally, ‘is that thought really true?’ Usually, when I hit on the truth of what’s been bothering me, my body will relax.
Yesterday, I did some of this digging and realized that my mind had begun catastrophizing. It started sometime between the unexpected death of a family member, the unusually low arctic temperatures we’ve been living with for 10 days, and the less than stellar business receipts in November and December. I started feeling ‘The Absolute is out to get me, and the future is going to be a Catastrophe.’ Of course, the moment this thought was discovered, it was obviously a lie because ‘me’ is really The Absolute in form, and why would It be out to ‘get’ Itself? The body began to relax again with that discovery and the mind returned to silence.
May all people who read this ‘wake up’ in this lifetime: it is possible!