How to Manifest and Unmanifest Fears
“Pamela wrote to me about one of her most memorable experiences while living in the Mojave Desert. She and her husband were both stationed at the Naval Hospital in Twentynine Palms, California at the time, when they drove one Thanksgiving weekend to a Borders bookstore that was about a 90 minute drive from home. Pamela and her husband had recently had a string of bad luck with vehicles breaking down, and Pamela became increasingly apprehensive that their one operational vehicle, her husband’s old Toyota Trooper, would break down and leave them stranded.
Pamela couldn’t shake off this fear, until she voiced to her husband how much she’d hate it if the truck broke down. Though they arrived at Borders without incident, the truck started making unusual noises after only half an hour on the return trip home. When they pulled off the freeway and into a gas station, the Trooper died completely. No auto shops were open on that Thanksgiving weekend, so Pamela and her husband walked to an ATM to get some money for a motel for the night… but neither of their ATM cards worked in any of three separate ATMs they walked to… though their cards had worked earlier that same day.
With only $5 in cash and no way to pay for a hotel, they walked back to sleep in the truck. It was cold and miserable, and Pamela marveled how she’d been rendered powerless by a few small circumstances—a broken-down truck and non-operational ATM cards. As time seemed to slow down, Pamela felt like she’d created the whole situation. Instead of getting angry or depressed like she usually would when not in ‘control,’ she felt an amazing sense of peace and well-being. Pamela decided to just allow things to happen, while being present and calm enough to observe and participate in their unfolding. This was a new way of being Pamela hadn’t experienced before.
Pamela was sitting in the driver’s seat when dawn finally came. She glanced over at her husband to see if he was still asleep, and saw him open his eyes as he said, “Turn the key.” Pamela had a moment of doubt and was just about to open her mouth and remind him they’d already turned the key a hundred times, when she saw something in his eyes that stopped her. She turned the key, and the truck started! They were grateful to be able to drive home with no problems. Their truck ran just fine, and their ATM cards worked, too.
Pamela wrote to me that she came to a deeper realization about a lot of things after this experience. Pamela no longer allows herself to fear anything, because she now knows she can easily create the very thing she fears, finding herself face-to-face with it. This experience helped Pamela realize,
“If I can create the things I fear, I must be able to create the things I desire as well.”
- Quantum Jumps (Cynthia Sue Larson)
