Hello ... I am returning to this board following a 5 year absence.  My first experiences were in 1998, when my Father died.  I turned to the board in grief and the words I read here (and the books that I read as a consequence) helped me through what turned out to be very difficult times.

I return today not so much as a grief stricken man (although I miss my Dad a great deal) but more as an inquisitive explorer.  I've just recently re-read Bruce's second book and I'm going to have to re-read #1 - quite why I decided to do it in that order, I'm not sure but it felt right.

This is starting to become garbled so I will jump straight to the point.

When I relax to try and explore, I sometimes feel myself falling and sometimes I start to see small bright lights.  I try to focus on them but am I suddenly overcome with fear.  I simply cannot seem to resist the temptation to panic.  I interpret the feelings in an anxious way although I am absolutely convinced there is a message waiting for me on the other side of my barrier.  Utterly convinced.  

I still have my doubts regarding afterlife which I know does not help but the 2nd book helps me understand that you can have doubts and explore.  Maybe this is why I elected to read this one first?  I don't know.

How do you conquer such fears?  I have had dreams where, in my dream, I fall asleep again.  I've had some great contact in this state but I become very aware that I am in a dream and I am unable to wake up.  I panic and start shouting at those around me (normally relatives that have passed but sometimes those who are still around) and I'm scared that my body will not realise that I'm still alive, pack up on me, I will die in my sleep and be left in limbo without the skills to move on.

I'm not sure if I need your help or a psychiatrist but dreaming within a dream and sometimes travelling from room to room in my house without being able to wake up is a phenomenon that happens regularly.

So that's 2 things I'm scared of.

Any suggestions?

 Hi friend, I have a small suggestion that has worked well for me, one that Robert Monroe originally gave. To wake up in your physical body intentionally from within a dream, intend/imagine moving your physical toe. As you sense your physical toe wiggling, there will be a shift from There to Here and you will awaken in your physical body....Fear is something that comes up for me too. I once asked two very experienced explorerers if they still felt fear at times in their travels. They laughed. "Yes!" Some of my own fears have receded only by continual experience, the physical-survival-imprint giving way to certainty about the immortal nature of things... I have a specific on-going experience that gives me "uh-oh!" sensations. The panic is changing to curiousity, yet the sensations still arise, but without as much charge as before...Perhaps others on the board can respond with their own ideas.    Best, Tim

I haven't figured out the answer to your question about overcoming fear but I think the fear is normal. One person who discusses it is Albert Taylor (in his book). Here is a link to his site:

http://www.alberttaylor.com/

Hello,  

Sometimes I think the main reason we all are here is to overcome fear.  At least it seems to me that it's like a full time occupation for most of us.  As we live out the events in our lives fear appears and fear also disappears after all it is only an emotion.  We can instantly change our emotions according to the thoughts we have, but how many times do we think about attaching a different emotion to the same thought?

Most of the time we don't want to feel it.  Too much of the time we are scared of being scared and try to block the fear or make it somehow go away by rationalizing it.  Most of the time we use our mental capabilities to try to eradicate fear and yes we do need to understand what we are afraid of and why, but I have found that one of the most effective ways to overcome fear is to use our emotional capabilities in combination with our mental capabilities.  The next time you have an automatic fear reaction to something that you are thinking about, try to continue to think about it, but change the feeling of fear into a feeling of love.  Do this not by mental thinking, but by emotional feeling.

Usually when we are afraid we also begin to feel helpless and powerless.  Learning to replace a negative emotion with a positive one within the same event helps you to realize that you are not powerless at all.

Love and peace, Kathy :-)