Photo of the day: Cozy candle, salt lamp, incense, pottery, leaves.

The book “Julie of the Wolves” by Jean Craighead George, has a quote I have not forgotten in all these years since I read the book: “When fear seizes,” she whispered, “change what you are doing. You are doing something wrong.”

Change something. Anything. Changing something can cause a shift in perspective. A shift in circumstances. A shift in power.

Here is a simple example: I feel a lot of anxiety when it comes to cleaning. Decisions about where to put things. When is it “clean enough?” And, ugh, the energy it takes. Dread.

So, one day, I was contemplating this and I had a new thought. What if I change something. What if before I clean, I create coziness, and then clean around it? So, I lit candles, lit incense, and turned on music. I still didn’t like cleaning but now I was spreading coziness instead.

This does not rise to the level of “fear.” And when a person is afraid, I don’t think it necessarily means they are doing something “wrong,” but I do think that fear signals something needs to shift. Sometimes, when afraid, we have the chance to make that shift. Not always by any means; but sometimes.

When 9/11/2001 happened, I was teaching middle school in downtown Los Angeles. I felt afraid. I had children in my care and did not know what else would happen. I did not try to complete my planned lessons and I did not give them busy work while I listened to the news, which was the impulse. I changed something. I remembered that my husband had once said that when something happens that puts pain into the world, balance it by putting love into the world. So I had the students make art and write letters to people they love.

So many things in life can be scary. Change something. Even something small. Rearrange that shelf. Move your couch. Sit in a different chair. You may be surprised what a shift it can make.

How have you handled fear? Are there things you can shift in your life?