A Course In Miracles tells us that there are only two true emotions, love and fear, and that anything that is not love is actually fear. Additionally, we have learned over the last few years that fear is the unique “gotcha” that keeps us from creating the reality we desire. So, we have worked to banish fear from our lives. We have done our homework, repeated affirmations like litanies, had countless clearings, but we still find ourselves unable to manifest the things we want. If we look at our results, it is fair to deduce that we must still be dealing with fear in some area of our life.

Fear has the ability to masquerade so it can’t be easily recognized and hide in the dark recesses where we don’t always think to look. We can sweep it out of one area of our life only to find it popping up in another if the doors to that room weren’t securely shut. There it will wreak havoc and block our intentions once more.

If fear is anything that is not love, it can be seen in anger, resentment, judgment, guilt, anxiety, hate, control, shame, bitterness—even gossip is a form of fear. If your desire is to create perfect health but you have stored old wounds and bitterness inside your body, you stand a good chance of manifesting illness, even disease instead. If you truly want a healthy, loving relationship but you feel shame or judge yourself in ANY way, you will likely attract a partner who will judge you and magnify your shame.

It is very hard to ferret out all the instances of fear in our lives, so there must be a better way to move past it.  Another approach might be to create its opposite, love, in every area of our consciousness.

Think about fear for a moment. How does it make you feel? Where do you feel it in your body? Now think about love. How do you feel when you fall in love; when you look at a newborn baby or puppy; when you have just accomplished a major objective? Where do these feelings live in your body? A goal, then, is to live every moment with the love feelings and stay so aware that every time you notice those gut-gripping fear feelings you stop what you are doing and readjust your thinking. Every thought you have is creative, so in order to free yourself from fear, your thoughts must be loving ones.

It is easy to track how you are progressing. All you have to do is look at what you are manifesting, because it is truly all up to you. Nobody else can create in your reality, regardless of what you believe. There are no victims. The idea that there are is an illusion. If you are creating lack or persecution—anything other than abundance and joy—in your life you are still dealing with fear.

Fear pulls us out of the now and into either the past or projecting outward into the future where we have no power. The present moment is all there is, so in order to move through fear and into our personal power we must become totally present. Right here, right now.  If you are ready to take that step, first make a list of all your blessings and give thanks for each one. Gratitude pulls you fully into the now. It empowers you to take the reins away from fear and claim your power to be the creator of your reality. Gratitude is pure love and will banish fear always.