by Lynn A. Thomas
SoulPoweredLife.com
Face Your Fear and Let It Go
A new neighbor moved in last month. He has a very big dog – looks more like a wolf than the shepherd he says he is.
He’s a very intimidating dog, and when my dog and I walk by the yard, his dog sneaks across the lawn then lunges at us. As his chain catches on his collar – my heart catches in my throat.
I told the neighbor that I was fearful that chain would someday snap and my dog – or I – would be his dog’s lunch.
He laughed and said, “He’s been trained to be gentle — unless I give him a command otherwise. You’ve no need to be concerned.”
But I was. His dog didn’t look very gentle — and I didn’t trust that chain.
Still troubled by this new development, and seeing as I have to walk my dog past his yard twice a day — I approached his wife. She smiled in an understanding way.
“I assure you that our dog will not hurt you or your dog.”
I mentioned the lunging and the chain and she said, “That chain will hold him, but if he should break free and come up to you, say ‘Let go’ and he’ll stop.”
“Let go?”
“Yes, say ‘Let go’ and he’ll stop.”
As I walked away mumbling the words – I wondered how well I’d be able to recall them should he break free.
I spoke about this with other neighbors and they all feel that the dog is nothing to worry about . “Maybe he’s sensing your fear,” one neighbor suggested.
Well, it’s hard to hide my fear – as it wouldn’t be the first time a shepherd came after me and I certainly was afraid for my dog as well.
The new neighbor suggested that we meet on neutral ground. I put my dog on the lawn and he was not much bigger than his dog’s head. His dog sniffed towards my dog, my dog stayed about two feet away, and sat down with his back facing him. He looked to be ignoring the big dog or sending him a message — either way he was not engaging with the dog or seeming to pay him any mind.
“See?” said the new neighbor, “You’ve nothing to worry about.”
As I walked away with my dog I thought, “I’ve nothing to worry about as long as you are holding that leash.”
As we continued on our walk, this brought to mind a story I heard years ago told by one of my favorite speakers, Les Brown. He was talking about facing your fears so you can live your dreams and told a story about a fellow who passed a bull dog each day as he walked to and then home from work. The bull dog would growl and chase him – stopping short on his chain. The man’s heart would be racing with fear each day as he passed the dog. One day, he decided to face his fears and walked up to the dog as it growled and barked at him. The man told the dog that he was tired of being afraid of him. As he faced the dog, it backed down. He approached the dog, now silent and sitting there looking up at him. It was then that the man noticed that the dog had no teeth. He was all bark – and no bite.
Sometimes we have to face our fears and stand up to them.
Other times we have to neutralize our fear – and let it go.
My new neighbor’s dog was not all bark — he had teeth.
My husband told me to stop worrying about the dog. To stop feeding energy to both the dog and the fear.
As I am apt to do with challenges in my life, I took the scenario to my journal. I wrote about the dog, my neighbor, Les Brown’s story and my fears. It was then that I realized I was in a pattern of fear of shepherds. Was this dog serving me by helping me clear the fear? It was time to let it go.
The next time I walked past the house, I took a deep breath and walked purposely by their yard. The dog sat in the sun, watching us go by, but did not lunge or bark.
What had changed? Was he bored of the game? Or had he been picking up on my emotions, and this time smelled no fear?
We emit signals from our emotions all day long. We attract with our emotions – we repel with our emotions – and we detach or neutralize with our emotions.
Our emotions are palpable, especially to those who can read or sense these subtle energy signals. When we encounter something that’s fearful – we (hopefully) have the choice to neutralize the situation by how we react to it.
I think of this as playing tug of rope – we let go of our end of the rope. Another analogy is we drop the oars and go with the current.
In this case, it was not my first encounter with an aggressive shepherd. It was a recurring them in my life and this shepherd was serving as an opportunity to face my fear and neutralize it.
If it’s something that keeps showing up and affecting our lives — we have to realize that we have the power to neutralize it and Let Go.
