Unlearning fear are the guidewords for this month, and as it so happens, a gifted acquaintance from my Wild Goose days has a new book coming out any minute now - How Not to Be Afraid! I am truly grateful for this book entering my life at the moment that it did because Gareth Higgins has written a deeply thoughtful exploration of how we can reframe our relationship with fear through the stories we tell.
“Fear can be debilitating. The path toward overcoming it can be thrilling. It unfolds, one mind-expanding, heart-opening, body-invigorating, community-inducing, love-soaked step at a time.
And the first step is to risk imagining something simple: the story you’ve lived in until today may not be the one you’re doomed to stay in tomorrow.”
He is right - the stories we learn to tell ourselves are often largely shaped by fear. When we reframe those stories, our lives can take on a beautiful new freedom.
Each chapter of How Not to Be Afraid contains personal stories, sound philosophy and engaging prompts that help readers better understand the presence of fear in our own lives and how we are called to live beyond the typical flight, fight or freeze responses. As he explores unique lenses through which to view fear, Gareth shares invitations to engage and rewrite our own stories with hope and resiliency.
I don’t want to spoil the fun of encountering his work for yourself, so I will leave it at this - do yourself a favor and watch for the release of Gareth’s book and snap up a copy as soon as you can.