What Do You Do When You Feel Fear?

It was such an intense week! I had a great time performing with my sister, recording our new album and doing two (!) photoshoots!

The show we performed this week (and will be touring the US starting this October) is called “Waking Up In America: Those Were the Days” – referring to all the great songs that made it around the world and connected people (and still do) regardless of their backgrounds. I invited the audience to wake up each day with an intention to bring more love but less fear and anger into the world.

I have to admit, I’ve been really affected – and deeply saddened – by last week’s horrible events – the mass shootings in Texas and Ohio.

So, I wrote this reflection. I hope you enjoy it and are inspired by it.

What do you do when you feel fear come over you?

I’m talking about fear about your future; fear about your current life circumstances; fear about the unknown.

The first (and probably the most important) thing to do is to ask yourself, Where is it coming from?

You might think it’s coming from one place, but if you tune into yourself a bit more, you might begin to see what’s really going on. In our hurried lives today, we often neglect to stop and be still in order to be able to fully discern where our fear is coming from (and if it’s there to truly protect us, or if it’s a fear that’s not serving us).

Check your emotional response – what is it telling you to do? If your actions carry on that fear (for example if you are compelled to move to another country, or to hire bodyguards, or never leave your house), you will only perpetuate the problem.

So here is what I learned about managing fear (from being informed about and practising “contemplation and action” and from a program we teach at prisons):

Let yourself feel the fear (or anger, sadness, revolt, rage, despair, compassion). Acknowledge it and sit with it.

Don’t just scroll through your social media feeds or watch media coverage. That will only feed your emotions, and you will find yourself in a spinning circle.

Sit with it, get silent and still for a moment, and let the emotion pass.

Connect with the place of Love. Become aware of the peace that still exists around you (in nature) despite the human destructive behavior. And THEN when you are at peace, look for solutions that will bring that peace back into our human interactions.

You will know if the solution is in creating more fear and anger or in bringing positive action of love and healing.

After this contemplation, take ACTION. Serve, volunteer, vote, heal, build communities, talk to those who don’t think/look like you, build bridges, gain new perspectives and deeper understanding, etc.

Just yesterday morning, I received a daily reflection from Becca Stevens, who is one of my favorite authors and healers Becca Stevens. She wrote this: “When we take the time to re-member ourselves, to put ourselves back together in the context of being made in the image of a loving God, mercy feels like the mortar securing our pieces.”

I’ll leave you to contemplate that (and like Becca, take action).

Tatiana “Tajci” Cameron is an award-winning music artist, published author, inspirational speaker, and certified transformational and spiritual life coach.

She has many passions and is dedicated to helping others while also creating an enriched life for herself and her three sons. When Tajci is not on the road performing gigs, she volunteers with local organizations dear to her heart, spends time with loved ones (often involving music!), and collaborates with other artists to bring creative projects to life.

Tajci’s most recent projects include a meditation CD, an annual retreat & sea cruise in Croatia (that she organizes and hosts), and a multimedia CD/book (Un)Broken: Songs My Father Taught Me.

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