I’ve experienced both.
I have found that early mornings are a time when my “guard” is down. If I have even the slightest amount of fear coming up, I am most easily going to feel it in the morning as I am waking up. This is a time when we have not yet been able to distract ourselves from that fear (for instance, by jumping out of bed and hopping into the shower or onto the computer) or we have not yet been able to use any tools to work with the fear (e.g. meditation, positive self-talk, ACIM lessons, etc.).
This is a time when you can learn an important piece of information about how you REALLY feel. Having this “guard” down is a good thing, because often times we busy ourselves in order to avoid the fear that we feel, rather than stop to look at the source of where the fear is coming from.
Our Inner Guide can’t heal what we keep hidden. So rather than run from the fear, we need to look at it WITH our Inner Guide. This is what “A Course in Miracles” is asking us to do.
Have you ever had the experience of going to bed and feeling really peaceful, and then waking up in the morning with gripping fear? Your mind is always active, and even in your sleeping dreams, your mind is choosing for the ego (fear) or for Truth (Love).
Next time you wake up, look at what feelings are coming up for you as you awaken. If you have the slightest amount of un-ease or if you have full-blown fear in your mind, rather than running away from it through distraction, be willing to look at it.
Say to yourself, as you hold the un-ease in your mind, “Inner Guide, I am WILLING to look at this WITH you. I am willing to not keep it hidden.”
Do this EVERY time you notice the fear creep in. You can also ask for help in understanding the conditions which brought the fear about:
The correction of fear is your responsibility. When you ask for release from fear, you are implying that it is not. You should ask, instead, for help in the conditions that have brought the fear about. These conditions always entail a willingness to be separate. At that level you can help it. You are much too tolerant of mind wandering, and are passively condoning your mind’s miscreations (see FIP T-2,VI.4).
The correction of fear is our responsibility in that we have to turn to our Inner Guide for help in this process. We can’t do it alone. The conditions of fear also have to do with our false beliefs that we really pulled off the separation from our Source, that we are limited to a body, that our dream of death is real, and the associated unconscious guilt that we feel because of this. In Truth, we have not changed Reality in the slightest bit. We are not guilty!
A very helpful statement in Lesson 110 of ACIM is “I am as God created me. His Son can suffer nothing, and I AM his Son.” We are EXACTLY as Love created us – eternal and filled with Peace and Joy.
Our Inner Guide, the Holy Spirit, is within our mind to help us remember this. Every time a scrap of fear arises in our minds, it is an opportunity to look at it WITH the Holy Spirit. This is real healing. Otherwise, we are just ignoring the fear, and the fear is free to keep coming back in countless other forms.
Look at the fear with your Inner Guide. Keep doing so as it keeps arising. Know that you ARE as Love created you, and so you can suffer NOTHING. Yay!!
Do you ever struggle with early morning fear and work “A Course In Miracles” to help? Share your process with us by leaving a comment below!
Corinne!
It is amazing that you posted this today (thank you Holy Spirit!)–I woke up this morning and experienced so much fear. I actually ended up listening to your “Let all things be exactly as they are” meditation :).Thank you so much for this article and all the advice.
Miracles and love!
Carly
That is so cool Carly! I love it when we find exactly what we need… that happens to me with opening the ACIM book all the time! xo
I wake up with fear often and I have also meditated on the feelings and sensations I am experiencing. But sometimes this can intensify the fear. Much like if you have a physical pain and you focus on it it feels worse. How do you balance staying with the fear against spiraling down into it?
This is a fantastic question. At times when the fear has felt on the overpowering side, I might only stay with it for a few moments and will instead bring more Course ideas into my mind. But the important piece is that willingness to bring the fear to our Inner Guide, even if we only do so for an instant. Luckily, that instant is all we’re asked to have – the teeniest tiniest willingness to see differently.
I try to notice my mind-set as soon as possible after I wake up and remind myself that the purpose of the day is learning under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. I also remind myself that anxiety can be an indicator that “truth is near” so the ego is responding to the perceived threat. This allows me to recognize that the dictates of the ego have no real authority so there is nothing to obsess about. Thank you, Corinne, for your support as we go home to God.
Hi Dan! Yes! I love that reminder that if we’re feeling anxiety, “truth is near” and the anxiety is only the ego freaking out because anxiety/pain is the ego’s best evidence that we’re limited to a body. So glad we’re all sharing the journey home, together, and reinforcing one another’s learning. 🙂