Discovering the Extraordinary in Confronting Your Fears

We are excited to introduce you to Lux Nomade’s new contributor – speaker, healer, and teacher Tara Kabatoff who will bring monthly insights to shadow work which can assist in the pursuit of seeking and searching for profound transformation and deeper alignment in our lives.

Have you ever felt inspired to embark on a new project, launch a business, set meaningful goals, express yourself authentically, or open your heart to love? Yet, soon after the initial excitement, you find yourself facing doubts, overthinking, or a sense of stagnation.

What you may be experiencing is a manifestation of fear. This subconscious sensation becomes activated when embarking on the unknown and initiating the next level toward self-manifestation. 

Fear had been my nemesis for many years, mostly without my knowing. I had debilitating fears that were within my level of conscious awareness, which I was determined to overcome, yet I didn’t realize how my hidden and unconscious fears were manifesting in my life and holding me back in many ways. My quest to understand my deeper limitations led me to years of research and understanding how my unconscious fears, which resided under the surface, truly affected daily experiences and opportunities. Ultimately, these unconscious fears had subtly prevented me from confidently expressing myself, breaking out of my comfort zone, and cultivating close relationships.

“Authenticity is when you fully embody who you are in your whole, magnetic, and radiant self. Free of fears, limitations, and false beliefs” – Tara Kabatoff

After spending several years working through the steps to understand and overcome fears and limitations, I am now sharing what I have learned for you to uncover your subconscious fears and live an authentic life. But first, what is an authentic life? Authenticity is when you fully embody who you are in your whole, magnetic, and radiant self. Free of fears, limitations, and false beliefs. While this transformation is a continuous journey, it has significantly reshaped my life, providing a profound sense of personal freedom and liberation. Fear, in essence, is not negative, although it can feel that way. Once you explore your fears, you’ll uncover hidden aspects of yourself, which will be highly rewarding. Confronting your fears and acknowledging the strengths they’ve instilled in you is a truly enriching exercise.

“Find out what a person fears most, and that is where he will develop next.” – Carl Jung

Where does fear come from?

In the teachings of Carl Jung, a Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, fear is often rooted in the unconscious, emerging from the shadow aspects of the psyche. Fear generally forms from early life experiences throughout the formative years and can grow and develop as we age. Fear can emerge in many forms, especially when you are about to experience something new, step into your greatness and awaken your authenticity. Fear-based patterns act as protective mechanisms and become activated, influencing your thoughts, behaviours, and responses to various situations.

How can fear manifest in your life?

If you can imagine fear as a little tiny voice within your subconscious that remains asleep until one day, you want to try something new, express yourself, meet someone new, or start a new business venture. Then, all of a sudden the little (or big) fear awakes, sending signals to the mind in the form of over-thinking, scattered thoughts, or doubts, then moving to the emotions with feelings of hopelessness or frustration, which finally influence behaviours such as finding distractions by taking frequent naps or trips to the fridge, putting the to-do list on the back burner, or even shutting down entirely.

Fear can manifest in ways of anxiety and worry, avoidance, procrastination, control, perfectionism, anger, withdrawal, overthinking, self-sabotage, and even physical symptoms such as elevated heart rate, muscle tension, or digestive issues.

Here are 8 highly effective steps to explore unconscious fears and cultivate alignment with authenticity:

1. List your conscious and unconscious fears.

Conscious fears can be relatively easy to identify and acknowledge, while unconscious fears operate beneath the surface, impacting thoughts, emotions, and behaviours. Some observations may be overt, while others might involve unconscious fears such as fear of the goodness in life, fear of success, and fear of realizing true potential.

2. How are those fears manifesting in your life?

Connect with your mind, emotions, and physical being. Is your mind becoming active? Are there repetitive negative and limiting thoughts or words arising? How are you feeling emotionally? What is happening within your body as a result? By shining light on these aspects, you’ll initiate a process of healing and integration.

3. Identify the source.

Once you have identified your fears, work back to the root cause of where and when these fears may have developed and their hidden meanings. What are those fears trying to signal to you that may need attention beneath the surface?

4. Visualize who you want to be in the future!

The most exciting part is visualizing, dreaming, and aligning with your future self. Who do you wish to be? What do you desire to experience? When you have created the connection, feel within your core self what it feels like to be there. Align with the feeling and visualization each time right before you fall asleep and when you first wake up to re-wire your subconscious and create an alignment towards positive change.

5. Create actionable steps.

Make a list of actionable steps to gently move through your fears. Define your long-term goals with incremental and practical steps that will lead you toward transformative change. Steps may involve a commitment to mindfulness work, changing routines, self-care, and reaching benchmarks within business and career.

6. Incorporate mindfulness exercises.

Breathwork and meditation are great techniques for cultivating awareness within the mind, heart, and body connection. Breathwork can help alleviate fear and anxiety, while meditation can dissolve an active mind and negative thoughts. Through the mind, heart, and body connection, you will create greater self-awareness and integration of your whole self.

7. Give yourself time to adjust.

Remember to be gentle with yourself and allow your subconscious to integrate the changes. The process is ongoing, and your entire being will shift with this work as the results will appear in incredible ways.

Fear is commonly viewed as a negative experience, but I encourage you to find the gold within your shadow by recognizing the positive traits that have emerged due to your fears. Perhaps you’ve cultivated resilience or creativity by swiftly adapting to difficult or complex situations. Bring your fear closer into your conscious self; for in this proximity genuine healing, transformation, and self-mastery unfold.

If you would like guidance for your journey of healing, transformation, and self-mastery, join me on Patreon through weekly live sessions and resources or the Shadow Project, a month-long intensive learning and self-discovery program to access your shadow and the gold within.