 Fear has got a bad name in spiritual circles. It's considered the number one enemy, the opposite of love, the obstacle to our unfoldment. But like any other of the so-called negative emotions, fear has its place too. Nothing that is sent to us or given to us is invalid. Fear then becomes the number one enemy again, the part of ourselves that we need to struggle against and the war against the self continues. But there's another way to look at fear. You can look at fear as what we use to construct a womb or a safe space or a cocoon around ourselves. Our fears are the strands of this cocoon that create a safe space in which we can grow. And we need this safe space. Each stage of our unfoldment takes its own time. It has its own pace. It goes through its own process. And only when we have grown up against the limits of that particular safe space do the fears then truly become limiting. And when that happens, we feel constricted, we feel limited, and we have a desire to grow. We have a desire to transcend. We have a desire to to let go of those fears. But we don't need to do it prematurely and if we try, then we're fighting ourselves. How can you tell the difference? It's kind of like the difference between say the little boy and the little girl standing at water's edge wanting to take the plunge but afraid to, but she knows it's time now. It's time to take the plunge and there's a sense of exhilaration even though there is still fear. Contrast that to the teenager, maybe standing on the high dive or on the rocks above the above the water knowing it's not safe and really being afraid, but his friends are taunting him and but he really doesn't want to do it. That's the kind of difference to look for. Fear doesn't have to be your enemy. It has its place. Distinguishing what kind of fear it is can be confusing sometimes, but you really don't have to figure it out. All you have to do is to fully feel the fear when you're considering an option, a choice that's before you, and you're feeling fear. You're feeling, you know, should I take the plunge? Should I step into this new world, this new self, this new way of being, and you're afraid and you don't know, should I be listening to this fear or should I be letting go of this fear? All you have to do to know the answer is to allow yourself to fully feel the fear, to feel the quality of the fear, to really sit with it and you know, what is it like to be afraid and let yourself be afraid and be afraid and by doing that you integrate the fear and you receive its message and that will, it's almost like it will program you to make the right choice. If it is indeed a protective fear, then you just won't want to do that thing. It will become obvious. You won't even be able to force yourself to do it. And if the fear is a limiting fear that you're ready to outgrow then you will hardly be able to stop yourself from doing what needs to be done. It's just that simple. You don't have to figure it out. There's no forcing necessary. All you need to do is to feel and allow action to flow.