Fear in Meditation

Sometimes people resist meditation because they are afraid of not knowing themselves if and when meditation prompts real change. This is normal and the trick is not to judge the fear but to accept it deeply and then meditate anyway! Lama Surya Das speaks to this in his book Awakening the Buddha Within:

We might fear that we will lose our reference points and not know who we are or why we are doing things. We experience tremendous fear of the unkown. We worry that by going beyond ourselves we will go over the edge and lose ourselves. This fear is a response we can anticipate as the ego begins to lose its grip, and we start moving away from our habitual ruts and patterns of thinking. A spiritual path does not mean walking over the edge. If anything it is propelling us back to the center, the Golden Mean - back to health, sanity, and authenticity. All we are doing is opening up to truth and reality - the bigger picture.

For me, that bigger picture is always about freedom. I know that the way to inner freedom is through cultivating a well trained mind. Keep this aspiration always in mind and whatever fear arises will be manageable. And remember impermanence! Every feeling that arises will pass. We can count on that.