Gratitude Dispels Fear …

photo credit: jakub_hla

I was tossing and turning during the wee hours of the night a while back. (I've found that the early AM hours are the time when the ego does its worst work.) This sort of sleeplessness has assailed me before. I awaken abruptly and lie there for hours completely overrun with thoughts like, “what if this happens or what if that doesn't work?” -the kind of thoughts that don't even occur during day time hours but feel overwhelming at night. My habit in the past has been to lie awake feeling completely at the mercy of such thoughts and pray for daylight so that I can escape them into my busy schedule.

But this time was different.

This time when the ego voice awoke me at 3 AM and started in on its predictable rant I recognized its voice and didn't take it quite so seriously. It still held sway for awhile, going on about about how dire my life situation is, but this time I didn't lose sight of who it was in me that was carrying on with such nay-saying. I decided to ask for help.

I sat up in bed, turned on my bedside lamp and reached for the bible which happened to be lying on a table near by. I sat with the bible on my lap a few minutes and asked to be guided with words that would help me deal with the negative fear-mongering ego that lives in my own head. I closed my eyes and opened the bible.

When I opened my eyes the first words I saw was the beginning of a psalm that said, “Praise the Lord.”I felt an immediate relief upon reading the words and thought, “OF COURSE that's the answer to ego's ranting!”

Praise generates gratitude; it uplifts the spirits and raises our vibrational frequency to a higher vibratory level that attracts love and abundance. Gratitude defeats ego completely because it is of a much higher frequency. Ego cannot thrive in the high vibrational frequency generated by praising Source.

With that awareness in mind, I started whispering an improvised song of thanksgiving for the over flowing abundance in my life. Peace and quiet joy descended. I did not go back to sleep. I did not need to. I was so filled with gratitude that I felt eager to start my day. And it turned into a wonderful day – as days generally are when I start out in an attitude of gratitude.

What is the lesson? Simply this; gratitude is the antidote for fear or any stressful feeling. Use it ceaselessly.

The next time anxiety producing thoughts threaten to take you down, remember that it is the ego that produces fear – always. and turn to thoughts of gratitude immediately. Find reasons to be grateful in everything you do and in everything that happens. Refuse to hang out with the dark thoughts of an angst producing ego and you will find yourself held in the hands of an abundant universe.

photo credit: venetia joubert sarah oosterveld