Deepest Fear Inventory
By Carolyn Elliott MD
Deepest Fear Inventory launches from a great observation made by Marianne Williamson: "Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate, our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.”
In other words, we habitually think that we’re frightened of scarcity: we feel haunted by an apparent lack of love, lack of money, lack of self-value, lack of health, lack of creativity, lack of success, etc. - but actually, at a deep, unconscious level we’re most frightened by the possibility that we might discover that we’re surrounded by immense bounty.
Bounty is utterly terrifying to the ego because it’s humiliating - it’s humiliating because it means “the jig is up” on the ego’s operatic drama game of fear and lack.
Deepest Fear Inventory is a practice that can very rapidly help to make your unconscious, conscious - which, is the key to both non-dual illumination, liberation from emotional reactivity, and synchronous receptivity to getting what we want.
The premise of Deepest Fear Inventory is that some part of us unconsciously hates and resents and fears the “good thing” that our conscious mind ostensibly wants...
... because if we didn’t, we’d quite likely already have it.
Deepest Fear Inventory can often be very effective in helping us move forward even at times when we’re depressed or emotionally upset.
When we do Deepest Fear Inventory, we find the fears and emotions underneath our resistance to having the good things that we ostensibly want. In finding these and making them conscious (by writing them down, and then by reading them aloud, and ultimately tearing them up) it becomes much, much easier to let them go.... and then ultimately to allow ourselves to have the good thing you ostensibly want.
It’s important to note that like most processes of shadow integration, Deepest Fear Inventory is a bit uncomfortable at first.
I find it usually takes about two weeks of doing Deepest Fear Inventory daily to “strip off a layer” of fear. You may find it’s faster or slower, depending on the issue that you’re working on.
I encourage you to have patience with the process however, because Deepest Fear Inventory is indeed a lot like stripping off old paint with a scraper - once you’ve scraped it off, that particular layer of muck is gone, and you are significantly, joyously more free than you used to be.
While doing Deepest Fear Inventory daily, you may think to yourself things like:
1) “Ugh, this is pointless, why do I have to write down these negative things and dwell on them? Just thinking about them makes me feel awful.”
2) or “Ugh, I keep writing down the same things over and over again, this is so boring.”
3) or “Why do I have to read this aloud to anyone? Isn’t it enough that I write it out?
To which I would say:
1) Actually, it is not pointless dwelling - it’s very rigorous and sustained confrontation - you’re making your unconscious fears explicitly conscious, repeatedly - and by doing so they will strip off in a matter of weeks. Which is pretty amazingly fast and efficient considering that about 95% of human beings live their entire lives trapped in the same unconscious fears. You’re trading a little temporary discomfort for long-term freedom.
2) Writing down the same thing over and over again is absolutely great. All of our fears are indeed very boring. None of them are “original” in the least. They’re all a shared human inheritance. But they don’t always seem so - when they’re just floating around inside us they can feel very compelling and fascinating and “real.”
The more you look at your fears as “objects” - by writing them down and reading them aloud to someone else and then tearing them up - the more you cease to identify with them. Getting very bored of your own deep fears is part of the process of losing interest in them so they don’t run your life any longer, so that you become more fearless and receptive in a wholesome and balanced way to “good stuff.”
3) Reading your Deepest Fear Inventory aloud to another human being is a strong aid to losing your identification with those fears. With the help of another human’s attention, you are witnessed in a process of self-revealing. Being witnessed and listened to as your read aloud your previously unconscious fears helps to get you accustomed to being perceived without walls and masks, and the attention of another person acts as a wonderful “solvent” to help scrape off the layer of fear.
The Format of Deepest Fear Inventory
WRITE at the top of a sheet of paper:
Dear Universe (or Great Jimmy-Buttercup, or Love, or Jesus, or Jupiter, or whatever power you like to talk to), I deeply hate and resent ______________[[[and then fill in the blank with your desired intention .... i.e., "receiving tons of money for the work I do", "being loved by a sane and happy partner", "opening my psychic perception”]]]
because I have a deep fear of....
because I have a deep fear that I....
because I have a deep fear of....
because I have a deep fear that I....
(fill in all the blanks with at least 20 fears you can possibly imagine yourself having around your dream being fulfilled)
*as you start releasing some of these fears (by simply writing them down, you’ll see), creating a list of 20 might become too difficult/time-consuming. On week 2 you can set a timer for 10-15 minutes and find as many fears as you can within this time container.
WRITE at the bottom of your piece of paper, after your list of fears:
Dear Universe, I ask that you remove these deepest fears. I pray for knowledge of your will for me and the power to carry it out. Thank you.
NEXT: Call up a trusted friend, and read your Deepest Fear Inventory aloud to them. Let your friend know that when you're done reading, they should just say "thank you for your honesty" - no discussing what you shared. Then thank your friend for listening, and rip up the sheet of paper that you wrote on into tiny little bits and throw it away or burn it in a big metal bowl.
An Example Deepest Fear Inventory
Dear Universe, I deeply hate and resent receiving tons of money for the work that I do....
because I have deep fear that I will not be able to meet the expectations of my clients
because I have deep fear that I don't deserve that much
because I have deep fear that I will have a lot of money and then my friends will think I'm a sell-out and I'll be lonely
because I have deep fear that I will let it go to my head and make me a selfish person
because I have deep fear that I like to feel insecure
because I have deep fear that I like the drama of believing I'm a fraud because I have deep fear that I will have more options and I will have to make decisions that are scary
because I have deep fear that I will be powerful
because I have deep fear that I will be disconnected from people I love
because I have deep fear that I will upset people who can't afford me
because I have deep fear that I will be fulfilled and then I won't know who I am because I have deep fear that I will surpass my friends and family
because I have deep fear that I will prove my mother to be wrong
because I have deep fear that no one will love me if I'm powerful
because I have deep fear that I have to take care of everyone else in order to be loved
because I have deep fear that I have to stay broke in order to be loved
Dear Universe, I ask that you remove these deepest fears. I pray for knowledge of your will for me and the power to carry it out.