Shannon's Journal Discussion

[Shannon]

Whats important about "release" and "let go of"?

A lot of people are actually afraid of not being afraid. You can see this in the people who argue that fear is good, fear is useful, fear is helpful, fear keeps us safe, moral, ethical, etc.

This can be true at a conscious and/or subconscious level.

It is frequently true that the people who rely on fear to feel safe are holding onto it emotionally as if it is a life preserver. It is not only seen as a safety mechanism, but it is the "devil you know", and not the scary unknown. It also gets to be a simple rote habit. To get past fear, we need to be in some cases convinced to literally stop holding onto fear. Thus phrasing like "let go of" and "release" fear are useful.

But "release" can have multiple meanings, and some of those can result, when taken literally (as the subconscious does) in some undesired results. That's why I have to be careful and creative with wording, and why you guys pay me to get it right when it's subtle and complex like that.