What kept me stuck for years was Fear.

The fear of being rejected, unloved, of not being "good enough." This fear kept repeating in my head the tape that sounded like this: "You are nobody. You don't matter. If you died, no one would miss you." (Remember in my drawing, I called it "VOJ - Voice of Judgment")

But instead of addressing the fear itself - and exploring where it came from so I can let go of it - I was first ignoring it, then running away from it, and finally when I couldn't run any more, I became deadly afraid of it (and so it grew into very real panic attacks.)

FEARING THE FEAR ITSELF kept me stuck.

It kept me from enjoying my life and all that was really good in it (my amazing children, my caring and supportive husband, the music...)

It kept me in a grip, believing those lies and acting out as if those lies were true: "I'm not good enough to be a good mom, or a loving spouse, or be a successful music artist..."

For most of us, it's an emotional block based in FEAR that keeps us stuck.

The problem with fearing the fear itself is that we get stuck in the 'fear' cycle which has its own gravitational pull, and more we fear, tighter we hold on to it. (I like to use the image of a carousel when referring to this cycle.)

In my own experience, I had even transferred that fear into my spiritual life. And so, instead of hearing Love saying: "Be not afraid," I was hearing, "Fear is not from God. Therefore you are not having enough faith. You are doing something wrong if you feel so much fear." Which meant I wasn't even 'good enough' for God to keep me unafraid.

Pretty stuck, ha?

And pretty messed up...

Ok, so how do we break that cycle?

How do we break free from fear?