We all have had moments in our life where we have become anxious about the loss of our friends, family, career, belongings or our health.  This anxiety of possible loss may be due to our desire to continue having our connections with people or materials as long as we “want” them.  There is a great probability that our anxiety of loss is due to unfinished business.

This fear of loss and the anxiety associated with it can be a reminder of unfinished business.  Unfinished business can have many forms.  At the simplest form it may be a lack of acknowledgement and/or gratitude.

In the context of Tending to Your Garden Within, it is important to pay attention to our feelings of anxiety and fear, and then try to understand why these emotions have surfaced for us.  If we have fear and anxiety about the health or safety of the flowers in our garden, we first need to acknowledge (smell, touch, praise and enjoy) what we already have without putting all our energy and focus trying to protect them for the coming winter

Gratitude is one of the best techniques to acknowledge and take ownership of things that are dear to us.  Most of the things in this life are temporary and will disappear.  However, by expressing gratitude – in its many forms, we are actually acknowledging the ownership and hence internalizing the experience.  An analogy of gratitude is having an ice cream cone in the hot summer.  We can enjoy the ice cream by showing gratitude (eating the ice cream) or let it melt.  With either scenario, the ice cream is gone but the experiences are totally different.  Not showing gratitude is similar to watching an ice cream cone melt while we worry if we will have any ice cream tomorrow.  The poem below illustrates this concept further.

Fear of Loss

We all have fears in our life.

We have fears of losing what we have.

Be it our health, loved ones, family, status or our security.

We may feel a tremendous sense of insecurity when

we constantly fear losing what we have.

Sometimes this fear of losing something compels us to hang

onto the idea of wanting it without really appreciating it.

The fear of losing something compels us

to have an illusion of having that thing which will keep us

happy and satisfied.

We may be healthy now.

If we focus on the fear of losing our health in the future

are we really happy and joyful  for what we have now?

We may have children.

If we focus on the fear of losing them

are we really happy and joyful  with what we have now?

We may have a good paying job.

If we focus on the fear of losing our job

are we really happy and joyful with what we have now?

What is the source of our unhappiness of having things

but not enjoying them now?

The fear of losing things that we have is like

a person being bitten by a poisonous snake which

requires an anti-dote to counter of the poison.

What is the anti-dote to the fear of the losing

our loved ones, our assets and our relationships?

The anti-dote is gratitude

which can be expressed at a physical, mental and energetic level.

Do we really appreciate

our loved ones

our health

our jobs

if we rarely acknowledge them

verbally, emotionally and energetically?

Regular gratitude brings to focus our blessings.

Regular gratitude greatly softens the possible loss of things in the future.

True wealth is not found in the acquisition of things

but is realized by expressing gratitude.

 Copyright . 2010 by Shervin Hojat