When I returned from Albany, New York, where I was filming the PBS special for The Fear Cure, I came home to galley copies of my new book The Fear Cure! The gestation process of birthing a book is a slow one, much slower than birthing a human. So it’s always exciting when you get closer to meeting your book baby. But it also feels quite vulnerable to the ego. Mine prattles on with thoughts like “Will anyone like my book? Did I go too far over the edge into the spiritual realm with this book? Who am I to be writing a book about fear?”
Of course, if you’re crazy enough to try to write a book about fear, all your fears will come rearing up too! As I held the book galleys in my hand, I could feel the edge of that fear, but I was able to use my spiritual practices to bring me back to peace and trust in the Divine much more quickly than I once could, and that’s what I hope this book will do for those who read it. When I tune into my Inner Pilot Light, I know that this book will have its own journey in the world. I trust that whatever is in the highest good will come into being, and I don’t have to worry or grasp or control the process. It’s safe to let go and let God. The perfect outcome for my book baby is already chosen and I can just surrender into the flow of it.
As Joyce Carol Oates so eloquently said, “I never understand when people make a fuss over me as a writer. I’m just the garden hose that the water sprays through.”
That sums up how I feel about this book. Tosha Silver reminds me often to banish the word “my” from my vocabulary. This isn’t “my” book. It’s God’s book, and I choose to let God bring this book into the world however God pleases.
That said, surrendering something like a book into the hands of the Divine isn’t about passivity. Sometimes the Divine fills us with shakti, and the shakti courses through us until we leap out of the chair to take inspired action. And that’s what got me to my computer to write this, because I realized YOU CAN HELP bring this book into the world! I have two requests, in case it feels yummy to help spread this message. But first, let me tell you a little about the book.
What’s The Fear Cure About?
The Fear Cure begins by addressing the scientific link between fear and disease (there’s tons of data!) and then dives into the cultural world view that makes us so afraid. It addresses what I call the “Four Fearful Assumptions:”
-Uncertainty is unsafe
-I can’t handle loosing what I cherish
-It’s a hostile universe
-I’m all alone
Most of the book is about shifting this world view to one of trust and peace with what I call the “Four Courage-Cultivating Truths:”
-Uncertainty is the gateway to possibility
-Loss is an opportunity for soul growth
-It’s a purposeful universe
-We are all One
The book also teaches the “6 Steps to Cultivating Courage,” as well as many practical exercises and tools intended to help people shift from fear to freedom and in doing so, to participate in the shift in consciousness underway on our planet so we might all live more in alignment with our truth and more in harmony with nature. By delving into the intersection between science and spirituality, my hope is that The Fear Cure becomes a guidebook for those looking to move beyond the fearful Small Self so we can start trusting the larger part of us that will guide us safely to the highest good for all.
Get a Free Advance Copy of The Fear Cure
The book doesn’t launch until February 24, 2015, but advance copies have been printed so that those who are in a position to be ambassadors for the message in this book can help us spread the word. Are you one of those ambassadors?
Do you have access to your own tribe? Do you have a highly trafficked blog or write for a well-read website, magazine, or newspaper? Do you have a big newsletter list or a lot of followers on social media?
If your answer is yes and the message of The Fear Cure sounds like it might be aligned with your audience, just email Pearl@LissaRankin.com and tell Pearl how you can help. Be as specific as possible. How will you be able to get the word out there? If you’re a blogger, tell Pearl how much traffic you get. Include the size of your newsletter list or how many followers you have on social media. If you live in the United States and you’d prefer a print galley, make sure you include your mailing address in your email. If you live overseas or prefer to read digitally, we’ll be sending out digital galleys too. Pearl will choose 100 people to get free advance copies of the book, so the more specific you are about how you plan to help, the more likely it is that you’ll get a book! Then hopefully, if the book resonates with you and it feels aligned for you to help promote the book, you’ll help us spread the word the week of February 24, when the book launches. (Only if you love it and genuinely feel it will help your community, of course.)
If you don’t have your own tribe, don’t worry. You can preorder The Fear Cure now and it will be shipped to you on February 24. Or wait until January and keep your eyes pealed for some special book purchase incentives we’ll be hatching to go along with the launch of the book and the PBS special.
Help Me Get the Book into the Hands of the Truly Scared
I also have a vision of getting The Fear Cure into the hands of people who really need it. What if we could find donors willing to fund getting The Fear Cure into the hands of women in domestic violence shelters, for example? What if we could get it into rehab centers or 12 Step programs? Imagine if prisoners were gifted copies of this book? Or sexual abuse or rape survivors? Imagine if victims of violent crimes (like I once was) were given a copy of The Fear Cure by cops or lawyers?
I have lots of ideas, but I’ll bet you do too. Do you know donors who might want to get involved? Do you know any nonprofits we should be partnering with? How can we help the truly frightened get the help they need? And how can we get funding for such a project?
Let’s Save the Earth
In yet another vision, I see a way that this book can help us heal the planet. A couple of weeks ago, I was one of a thousand people at the Pachamama Alliance luncheon. As I was listening to them talk about the need for protecting the rainforests and supporting the indigenous cultures who serve as caretakers of the earth, I had an epiphany. I finished writing The Fear Cure the first week of August, and the second week of August, I traveled to Peru, where I went up to 16,000 feet in the Andes to a Q’eros village, where I was blessed to witness another way of life. I didn’t realize it when I wrote it, but in The Fear Cure, I make a case (including scientific data where possible) for how we need to change our worldview from one of fear, greed, consumerism, and loneliness to one of love, trust, generosity, and connection with each other and with nature. While visiting the Q’eros, I realized that they were already living from this alternative worldview, and it’s a worldview of planetary sustainability.
Pachamama Alliance has a twofold vision—to protect the rainforests and the indigenous cultures (“Condor people”) that inhabit them, but also to shift the world view of “Eagle people” (North Americans and other Westerners). They hope to change the American dream so we’re not striving for more, more, MORE but rather, we’re cooperating with each other, caretaking nature, and coming back into planetary balance.
It wasn’t until I sat in that audience that I realized that The Fear Cure could help us do just that. I got major goosebumps.
Can You Help?
Do you share my vision for helping transform the culture from one of fear to one of trust, faith, love, cooperation, and sustainability? If you have any ideas for how to bring this book into the world in a way that feels aligned with your own spiritual mission, please email Pearl@LissaRankin.com.
Thank you SO much for caring about what I write and for all of your support. If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have the blessing of being able to make my living in spiritual service the way I am. I’m super grateful and hold you dearly in my heart.
With deep appreciation,
PS. If any of you have been waiting on the paperback version of Mind Over Medicine, it comes out today and you can order it from your favorite bookseller here.
Enjoy this post? Subscribe here so you don’t miss the next one.
