Getting read of Fear?

[CFTraveler]

Thanks for the passage, but i really dont know what to get from it... 

That what is going to be the most challenging is your own stuff, what's 'in there'- and will ultimately be good for you, if you can handle it.

[rem92]

ohhh i see, gotcha, i guess ill have to face myself and my fears when i get out there...

[spacewrangler]

Here's something that might help:

In an early OBE, I had flown about a mile from home over nearby roads, just exploring. It was one of my clearest and most controlled experiences up until that point. I seemed to be more or less perfectly in the real world. I flew (half ran/jumped) to the entrance of a heavily-graffiti'd tunnel beneath an overpass nearby to have a look around. (Not a threatening place--this was a leafy area I'd hung out in as a kid.) I decided to experiment with contact with 'higher self' or 'higher beings' or any one of the vaguely parental archetypes people had reportedly encountered. I also had the naive idea that I might be able to 'help' someone or something.

So I called out "if there's anyone listening...I'd like to help someone. Could you show me the way?"

To my surprise, there was a reply. "Are you sure?"

"Yes!"

With that, something 'took over'...flew me smoothly and quickly to a junction near the hospital nearby. Then it pushed me down into the ground, through asphalt and earth, until I felt a new presence. This was something terrible, angry and confused, a knot of some horrifying energy under the road. It screamed at me, a chilling wail that echoed around my head. I felt it reach out, then felt 'control' return to me...I shot out of the ground and blasted back to my body in a straight line, through trees and buildings. On my panicked three-second return flight, I heard the laughter of the 'higher' entity. Quite a lesson!

But I was unharmed. I'd seen something new and learned quite a bit. 1) There was someone willing to help me, 2) there were frightening things out there but they could be faced without personal risk (other than feeling a bit unsettled afterwards) and 3) I could spring back to my body like lightning if I needed to!

In early OBE practice you will probably find yourself in the sleep paralysis state quite a bit, and this has a way of putting your fears front-and-centre. All I can say is, nothing can hurt you. Anything you meet here should be shown pity. If you see something creeping around, try talking to it. Calmly ask it what it's doing. You might get an answer or an unusual reaction.

I remember one evening as a student, I had the house to myself and I was walking around in total darkness just to face it and get over it. Making tea, sitting around, having a sandwich, all in the dark. Later I went to bed and lay on my side to sleep. I found myself in the sleep paralysis state very quickly. I wasn't alone; behind me were two beings, and they were discussing me.

"Terror. They hate terror," said one. I felt them loom over the bed.

"Who are you?" I asked. "Were you ever alive, like me?"

"Shut up!"

"What age were you? What was your nane? I might be able to help you."

"Shut up! You're not supposed to talk!"

"I pity you. This is no way to exist. Wake up!"

They both ran away there and then. The malevolent 'energy' I felt totally disappeared, and I was able to quickly project out on to the roof to look for them. It didn't last long, I woke up after about thirty seconds.

Later that same night, feeling pretty good about my chances of another OBE, I went to bed and laid on my back. In no time, I was in the sleep paralysis stage, and the two beings from before were at my bedside.

"You're back," I said, trying to 'beam' them all the kindness I could muster.

"F-- you!" they shouted. They JUMPED on me, and bounced off through the wall as if from a trampoline! I laughed after them.

After that night I never met any 'threatening' presences at the sleep paralysis stage.

[rem92]

How did they looked like? the beings your talking about...
Man, i think that rather leaves me more unsettled... i mean wow, encounter stuff even in waking life, and in sleep paralysis.. damn....

[spacewrangler]

The beings were female in appearance, fat, dressed in black, but almost with the body proportions of children. One was bigger than the other. It felt like one was training the other, but that's just an impression I had.

My aim here was to reassure, not unsettle I've never run into anything geniunely dangerous (but then, everyone says that, right?) See, I'm doing it again...

Just go into it with a light-hearted attitude and laugh at anything remotely threatening. It really does help. Ridicule and pity are tools in your arsenal--they elevate you, and can turn even frightening experiences into informative outings. Even if you are genuinely afraid...just keep at it and pretend that you're not!

I don't want to give the impression that every sleep paralysis experience is terrifying. Once, I realised there was a non-threatening presence in the room with me...a girl with short blonde hair in blue jeans and a red coat. She sat at my bedside and smiled at me, stroking my cheek. No fear there--it was just a bit weird. Other times I've seen strange green clouds above my bed, listened to music and etherial talk-radio stations (complete with jingles and station idents). You're going to run into weird stuff!

Once I was woken at 3am by something pulling on my ankles. It yanked me down the bed by six inches or so...I grumbled and pulled myself back up. Then I was pulled down the bed again, this time further...again I grumbled and pulled myself back up. Finally, I was gradually of realising what was going on...I felt hands grip my ankles tightly and pull me right out of the bed! I bounced off the wall and found myself standing beside a guy in glowing blue-white robes, grinning at me. I yelled profanities at him and he shrank away, rolling up into a point and disappearing. It took a few seconds for me to realise that he had just pulled me out of my body...he was helping me, but obviously in a jarring and frightening way. I called out: "sorry! I didn't mean to react like that!" but he didn't return.

[rem92]

You know, something like that happened to me... but in a less, mmmm invasive way i guess, it was my first experience with projecting, and i wasnt even trying to project, one night i just went to sleep, and suddenly, i feel like im floating over my body, but looking at the ceiling not looking at my body, then some one starts turning my astral body gently, i was really scared of what was going on, so i forced myself back in my body, as soon as i went to sleep again, it started again the same process... then i just kinda saw words in my mind, saying " dont worry, its okay, dont be afraid" and so, i was like.. " ohhh okay then... " so i stopped fighting it, and the person starts turning me again, and i see some silhouette , of a person, i couldnt make out anything, and there was a really bright light behind him, and then.. i just snapped you know.. just couldnt process it, and forced myself back in my body again...  thats all i recall from that night, i remember around that time i was practicing trying to get my first OBE, but failed, because every time i felt the vibrations i would get all scared and nervous, and snap out of it... i guess that someone was just trying to help me out, guess i really wasnt ready for it.

But if that someone had pulled me from the ankles again and again... i would've gone crazy... for real that sounds terrifying haha, oh well.

[embrace]

Before I achieved my first OOBE I had been scared a lot, too. What helped me was attempting OOBE in the morning hours, when it's not so dark in the room. It is usually darkness that evokes our imagination and makes the fear grow.

[majour ka]

So i've been trying to AP for a while.. and there is something i keep hearing, that if you are fearsome, you will find scary things when you AP, and thats i a huge inconvenient for me, since im rather scared of evil ghosts and such, and it keeps me from projecting... so my question to you wise community, is how do you get rid of fear? if you were scared when you where beginner... how did you managed to get rid of it and successfully project to nice and amazing places?

Its normal to fear what we dont fully understand, and that which we dont feel fully in control of. But first remeber that the astarl world is refective of our imagination so we will create imaginary stuuf that may seem real but isnt...as for evil ghosts...only on scooby doo. Theres no such thing. Nothing in the astral can harm you...so nothing to fear. You go into the astral every night when you sleep. have fun