How to Process and Release Fear

Most human fears can be classified within five fundamental categories. If you carefully examine a worry, you can learn to trace it back to its root, making it easier to process and overcome.

The Fundamental Affirmations listed under each category are basic, life-changing statements that you should memorize and use every day. Whenever a worry, doubt, fear, or limiting thought comes to mind, determine which of the Five Fundamental Fears it stems from, and then replace the worry with Affirmations instead. 

1. Abandonment
Aloneness, isolation, separation; feeling unwanted, unheard and unseen. To move beyond this fear, we can:

• find opportunities to express love freely
• be a good listener; practice hearing and seeing those around you
• communicate openly and meaningfully
• forge connections with family and friends, improve communication patterns in those relationships

Affirmations for fears and worries rooted in Abandonment –

There is always enough love for me.
I give and receive love easily.

2. Bodily Harm
Pain, injury, illness, infirmity, death, etc. To move beyond this fear, we can:

• do our best to ensure our physical and emotional safety
• cultivate a sense of temporal security
• take good care of our mental and physical health
• find a "secure nest" where we can go to re-charge and relax

Affirmations for fears and worries rooted in Bodily Harm –

I am safe and secure.
Everything I’m feeling is normal and healthy.

3. Loss
Fear of losing something that is important to you: Life, loved ones, health, "control", money, job, status, relationships, youth, ideals, faith, precious possessions, etc. To move beyond this fear, we can:

• focus on abundance, creation, service, and community
• be a creator instead of a consumer; the kind of person who can strategize, problem-solve, and create what they need

Affirmations for fears and worries rooted in Loss –

I have everything I need to be happy and whole.
I have many people and resources in my life that I can call upon to help me.

4. Unworthiness / Failure
Embarrassment, shame, guilt, lack of acceptance, feeling "less-than", being different, self-consciousness, public humiliation, losing face, losing status. To move beyond this fear, we can:

• find a supportive community
• practice self-respect
• give support and unconditional love to those around us
• cultivate integrity
• live authentically

Affirmations for fears and worries rooted in Failure –

I am enough, exactly as I am.
I honor, value and respect myself and everyone around me.

5. The Unknown
Generalized anxiety, speculation, panic, helplessness, “what if?” To move beyond this fear, we seek to:

• gain knowledge and educate ourselves
• practice Mindfulness: Be Here NOW

Fear of the unknown diminishes when we are fully engaged in each moment. Rather than resisting your emotions and experiences, allow yourself to "sit" with whatever your life is bringing to you.

Affirmations for fears and worries rooted in The Unknown –

I am fully present and engaged in each moment.
I am here… I am willing.