Moving Beyond Doubt

By Bart Sharp

Doubt is a contracting emotion in body consciousness meaning we stop or retract in some way when we feel it and our tendency is not to take action. In the space of doubt we stop. In that moment we have a choice to shrink down with fear or stay more in a place of curiosity. The fear that creates doubt’s greater reality is afraid of making a mistake or the wrong decision. People usually go to this doubting place because they have likely been there before and have had strong negative memories in regards to the mistake.

The purpose of doubt is to let us be aware we need to slow down or stop to consider our decisions. Doubt may be a signal for us to let us know we have encountered this before and have made a mistake. Doubt is quite a useful signal, it is only when we allow fear to come into the picture with doubt that it becomes an anxious experience in our body consciousness.

Doubt often takes us to a crossroads and makes us slowdown to consider a decision. It brings us to an opportunity to do things differently. If we wish to make a different decision it is best to take it on in the place of detachment where curiosity may open us to solutions we’ve not considered before.

When we encounter situations in life where we feel doubtful, stop and feel what is occurring inside of you. Then ask something such as, “what does the situation offer for me to learn?” Or another useful question might be, “what am I not getting about this?”
We really want to set the intention to see it differently than we did before and asking questions opens a bigger consciousness to contribute.

I’m always surprised when I ask what I’m on not getting about a situation how an answer suddenly appears. Almost like a thought comes in from a deep place inside of me drifts up into my awareness. I’m no longer thinking but allowing a bigger consciousness to come in.

If we are in fear of making mistakes we will create much resistance or doubt to making a mistake again. This reaction will actually narrow our awareness through the judgments of fear. It is likely we will make a similar mistake again when we feel this way. We are not willing to step out of our old pattern as fear and doubt will take us back to. The question opens us to another attitude and possibility.

When the doubting feeling arises inside of us it is best to acknowledge it and allow it to be there. We then drop the resistance to it and are willing to have the wound of the fear be with us. We are then in a state of attitude to begin seeing it for what it has to teach us. Just like any wound it is best we care for it, give it the attention it needs to heal yet it should not stop us from living our life. Like healing a physical wound, the fear of doubt will transform when it recognized for what it is, then it can begin to change in this place of nurturance.
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