Fear and the Solar Plexus Chakra

Not going to lie, I've had a really bad week. I made mistakes at work which I haven't made in three years of being in this profession, and it's just been....challenging.


Today I did a cleansing shower using some cleansing and purifying salt scrub I whipped up, and then listened to my favourite sound bowl meditation to help clear and align my chakras. A pretty standard routine, until I got to the solar plexus chakra. Then I felt it - this huge, stabbing feeling of fear. It was completely unexpected! Why in the solar plexus chakra?


The solar plexus chakra is the seat of our personal selves. Our personal power emanates from our solar plexus chakra. It governs our confidence, clarity, ability to take responsibility for our actions, and how comfortable we feel in ourselves and our opinions. When this chakra is firing on all cylinders it can bring self-assurance, self-discipline, and independence. The solar plexus chakra is concerned with our identity, helping us find ourselves and understand our what drives and motivates us.


Confidence in oneself is an incredible thing. It almost sounds easy to  just 'be confident', in what you do, but I'm sure we've all experienced those feelings of self-doubt. The little voice that tells you that you aren't good enough at what you do, you aren't pretty enough, nobody cares what you have to say, etc. They can creep in, and if left, can fester and severely impact the way in which we view ourselves. Especially in a world where we are often judged on what we bring to it.


The fear of failure or fear of not being good enough is something that everyone experiences at some point. Whether that isn't being good enough to fulfil your parents expectations, or to find a partner, or to be successful in your chosen profession, it is almost unavoidable to most. Even when we are on top, the feeling that this can't last forever and something must go wrong at some point can be persistent.


This is the fear we feel in our solar plexus chakra. Those insecurities, that doubt, can eat away at it. The chakras are all connected, and when one is blocked it can affect the others. For example, the sacral chakra is associated with our place in the world; if we aren't even sure of our place within ourselves, how can we be sure of our place in the world outside of ourselves? The heart chakra is associated with compassion, but insecurity can keep us from feeling compassion for ourselves and the position we are in, and we can beat ourselves up over the smallest of things.


This fear can be difficult to overcome, and it can take a great amount of work, especially if you have been carrying those insecurities around for a while. Many people can go years and years without confronting or working on overcoming these feelings. As I meditated on this fear and where it came from, I realised that my bad week at work was the source of it. The mistakes I made had shaken my confidence, and I wondered if I was indeed cut out for the role I have, or if I was even any good at my job - maybe I had only got to where I was through sheer dumb luck?! Am I going to be able to deal with the fallout when I head back into the office tomorrow, to pick up where I left off before the weekend and turn it around? I seriously doubted my ability to do so.


But my meditation on the solar plexus chakra helped to reflect on it rationally. Three years without making these mistakes? That's pretty good going! They were bound to happen sometime, and mistakes always will. What matters is how we respond to them. We need to be able to pick ourselves back up and say to ourselves, 'what can I do to rectify this, and how can I ensure it doesn't happen again in the future?' Again, sometimes this can be hard as it requires us to admit that we were wrong, but the solar plexus chakra can help us find the courage and confidence we need to do this and move forward. Mistakes will happen, but let's change our perspective; yes, they can be difficult, and the fallout can be big - I'm talking fired-from-your-job or partner-breaks-up-with-you levels of fallout - but they can also be a chance to learn. If everything went perfectly all of the time, we would find it much more difficult to learn, grow, and improve ourselves. So take a deep breath, and ask yourself; what can I learn from this experience?


Ultimately, this is where the solar plexus chakra can help us. Rather than leaving all of the doubt and insecurity to settle within ourselves, we need to confront it. We need to have a dig around and find the root of these feelings so we can dispel them once and for all. When we work with our solar plexus chakra, we can find the confidence we need to accept ourselves as we are and embrace the weird, wacky, and flawed aspects of our personality. Working on these will ultimately help heal our solar plexus chakra, and through this chakra we find the strength we need to heal. Again, this isn't always easy, but below are some ways in which you can start the healing process. There are many more out there, and they may not work for everyone so don't feel disheartened. Facing our fears can be a lifelong challenge - if it is one you are about the embark on, then I wish you all the best! You've got this.

• If your fear stems from not feeling good enough for/about something, grab a pen and paper and start working on a list of tasks you need to reach the point where you do feel good enough. For example, if you don't feel like good enough at your job, take some time to explore why that is. I know for me, I can sometimes bury my head in the sand and put off sending certain emails and things as I would much rather not deal with them! However, that doesn't mean they go away, it just means that by the time I do get around to sending that email, I now have less time to deal with the issue in question. So one of the things I would write would be 'to raise all issues immediately, not matter how bad they are - dealing with the sooner rather than later is better. I am strong enough to face these issues head on'.
  

• Use divination to give you guidance on how best to heal and overcome the doubts you face. If you find that you have difficulties making yourself heard and so often feel overlooked, as your tarot cards or other form of divination to guide you in finding the confidence you need.
  

• Practice meditation and mantras - even just five minutes every day can help. For example, 'I am strong, I am smart, and I have the confidence to overcome 'X, Y, and Z. Nothing can stop me, not even myself'.
  

• Find something you are passionate about outside of your job, relationships, etc., and focus on that. Maybe you enjoy painting, or writing, or running? Try to find something that you don't have a competitive relationship with. Practicing on perfecting your shading technique is very different from trying to get your artwork in a local gallery. By chasing the latter you are ultimately setting yourself up to experience doubt in the future as you are looking for external validation that may never come. This exercise is more about finding something you enjoy, feeling proud of your achievements, and growing in confidence through internal validation.
  

• Celebrate the small wins. At the end of the day reflect on everything you did well - this can be as simple as 'I responded to that email straight away', or 'I found the right stats that Bob needed to finish writing his proposal'. Remind yourself of all of your successes and just how much you have learned and how much you have contributed.