I talk all the time about fear being an illusion. That doesn’t mean we don’t have the experience of it on a regular basis. Fear is a fact of being human. Not letting it affect us, not letting it deter us from action, that is the spiritual act.

It has been said that fear is ten miles wide and ten miles high, but paper thin. So walk through it. Walking through it requires courage. Courage is listening to our hearts, listening to Guidance, listening to our calling, and moving forward. Courage is deciding that the fear messages your negative ego sends you are irrelevant.

Pick something today that scares you but could help you move forward. A phone call you need to make, a letter you have been putting off writing or sending, a person you’ve been too shy to approach. Take a deep breath, know that the fear is merely your negative ego trying to keep you from taking chances and growing, and take the action. Allow yourself the room to grow.

Each time you do it, it gets a little easier, because you start to realize that the fears are telling you lies. Fear comes from the negative ego, from that part of you that wants to keep you safe but is really out of balance. When you walk through your fears, you start to bring yourself back into balance, you start to bring yourself back into reality.

This post is part of a series called Monday Message, based on that day’s reflection from 365 Days to Enlightenment (authorized versions are currently out of print, working on a new edition). Check back next Monday for another one! You can also sign up for the Daily Message on my mailing list if you’d like to receive a new reflection every day. I also often post them to Instagram, if that’s a medium you enjoy.