I couldn’t help but feel a chill down my spine.
Still no interest in going trekking but I offered a relational Deep Dive for my coliving-coworking group and have been getting to know the people and culture around me more deeply. Interesting - and sometimes arresting - insights emerge.
The Pokhara citizens are relieved that rained has finally arrived again. Precipitation patterns have become unpredictable due to a combination of factors. The Pokhara Valley itself – the second largest in Nepal – is thought to have been carved out by an ancient flood. With droughts, catastrophic floods, melting glaciers, urban sprawl stripping away protective forests, and black carbon darkening the skies, it’s hard not to feel a sense of impending doom.
Photo: Water. Stillness. Peace. Lake Phewa, Pokhara, Nepal.
I felt a sense of familiar powerlessness in the face of monumental forces beyond my control and the sense of life’s fragility – the fear of not being able to change anything. My mind tries to escape the discomfort by grasping for an answer: Should I become an activist? Should I write policy papers again? But then I remember:
Fear is not a problem. It’s an observation.
THE WISDOM OF FEAR
Fear carries a message, a wisdom. It usually means one of two things:
• You’re alive.
• You care about something.
It’s important not to try to eliminate fear - but to understand your relationship with it. On the path of liberation, our relationship transforms (not in a linear way!) according to our levels of awareness:
• Victim (things happen to me) => Fear of consequences
• Achiever (things happen by me) => Fear of failure
• Vessel (things happen through me) => Fear of rejection/loneliness
• Creator (things happen as me) => Fear of death
• Liberation (things happen) => Fear sensations come and go
With increasing clarity, fear loses its control and allows a deeper wisdom to guide actions. You start to know what to do even amid complexity. [Tip: You can replace fear in the list above with any emotion you’re working with e.g. guilt or anger and see what you notice.]
LIBERATION THROUGH FEAR
Sitting with fear, I remembered that I have my own path and I’m doing exactly what I need to do. Why? Because that’s what I’m doing - being a bridge between worlds, helping transformational leaders and professionals to navigate their transitions and make their own liberational impact in the world.
Fear is a signal that can become a portal to more clarity and wisdom. In modern psychology it’s called the Functional Theory of Emotions. In ancient liberation traditions like Buddhism it’s the principle of transformation = seeing emotion as an experience carrying insight.
Liberation can be as simple as knowing fear signals speaking up in a meeting - with more presence. Or it can mean deep inner work with a purpose—learning to sit with ambiguity and loss of validation so you can move beyond conventional success. Then you will know whether to leave a job, uplevel your leadership in that job, or create your own ‘job’ through a transformational coaching or consulting practice, for example.
RELEASING FEAR, CULTIVATING VISION
Fear distorts the perception of time. It can make things feel longer or shorter. Liberation from its control happens through practice and investigation:
Here are a few reflective questions to start working with fear:
Long-term: What do you truly care about—what are your vision, values, and voice? What are you afraid to lose? What’s the worst (and best) thing that could happen?
Medium-term: Where do you need clearer boundaries, intentional action, and daily steps toward your vision—so life feels aligned even when it’s challenging?
Short-term: What’s your daily practice to quiet the mind, release emotions, and choose wisely? Even 5 minutes of meditation can free you from old fears—long enough to make a new decision.
Fear is a mask for vision. Face it and see a new future emerge.
Have a great week,
Amina
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