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Last week, we revisited the very first Mindful15 episode. Today, I’m going to share our listeners’ favourite episode. Originally broadcast in January of this year, it’s called Becoming Fearless and it focuses on how mindfulness can teach you to move beyond fear.
Wouldn’t it be great to be fearless, to be able to face anything life throws at you? Let me tell you what beloved meditation master Chogyam Trungpa  taught about becoming fearless.
In his book, Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior, Trungpa wrote, “In order to experience fearlessness, it is necessary to experience fear.” In other words, fearlessness requires becoming mindful of the fear itself. When you fail to acknowledge your fear, he says, you experience cowardice.
What are we so afraid of? Unknowns, really. We feel we’re inadequate to deal with the world around us. We can’t predict the future, don’t know what’s coming next, and we’re scared that whatever comes up will overwhelm our ability to cope.
Most of us move in the opposite direction of facing our fears. We try to shield ourselves. We use alcohol or drugs, do yoga or self-hypnosis, play video games or watch TV, and so on. We engage in restless activity that keeps us busy enough that we don’t notice our fear. We pretend it’s not there so we don’t have to deal with it. When anxiety does come up, we rush to make it go away, in many cases using the same methods we tried to keep it at bay in the first place.
Fearlessness, says Trungpa, requires exposing yourself to feelings of fear, relaxing into them, acknowledging them, and allowing their presence. When you do this, you become aware of your own vulnerability and you begin to notice that underlying your fear is sadness, perhaps a profound sadness. If you can acknowledge the vulnerability and sadness, if you can sit with them and allow them to simply be present in your life, you experience a tenderness of heart that allows you to make peace with fear.
Trungpa said the word fearlessness is not a descriptive word. If you’re fearless, you don’t experience less fear, you move beyond fear. You recognize that it is possible to experience fear and anxiety and still be okay. The fear doesn’t drive you and there’s no need to go to great lengths to avoid or cure fear. You learn that you are not inadequate. You can face the world and you are strong enough to handle fear, you can even thrive in the face of fear.
He also explained how opening yourself up to fear and anxiety helps you connect with others. We all face unknowns, we all to some degree feel anxious about our ability to deal with the future. When you allow yourself to be vulnerable, you can notice other people’s struggles with fear. You can experience more empathy and compassion and build stronger relationships.
Making peace with fear involves applying mindfulness. When you experience anxiety, take some time to just sit with it. Notice what you do when you’re fearful. How you act, how you speak. And notice how anxiety feels in the body. Where it’s located, what sensations arise and how they change moment to moment. Become incredibly curious about your fear and notice it in detail. Notice what feelings and emotions come up. Notice how they fold into one another and change over time. 
As you do this, you might have to remind yourself that you’re okay, that you can tolerate these negative feelings. They’re just feelings. Try to relax into them, even if just a little bit. Let them know that it’s okay for them to be present with you.
If you experience clinical anxiety or if your fear arises from a traumatic experience, you may need some help to apply mindfulness to feelings of anxiety. A mental health practitioner familiar with mindfulness practice can help c...