On our way to remembering our true selves which is the point of being here, we have assistance from a variety of sources. Some are high on the vibrational energy scale, such as angels, guides, ascended masters, and our higher selves. This is assistance from our love sources, and we can respond in kind with their help.

The opposite of the love response is fear, and if we so choose, we can use the resources of the lower, slower vibrations, which are known in psychology as defense mechanisms. At the root of all that is not love is fear.

The need for self-protection, self-defense, a safe haven for our soul as it heals and gains ground against the harshness of the perceived world is a vital part of the human experience. Feeling safe to awaken the higher aspects of the self is important; healing and awakening will not occur in a fearful state. Unless we are able to invite wholeness to be us, it will not, we have to want it enough to be available to it. Until we can “drop our guard” we can embrace nothing.

The Universe Is An Energy Realm Where All Is But Perception.

Buried deep within each cell is the total recollection of every emotion, event, thought, deed, and memory, as we have perceived it from conception. What is stored is energy, and energy can be altered. Energy is just energy, neither positive nor negative in its basic state. We assign the positive/negative/neutral aspect to it for our use.

Our thoughts are pure energy, and only we are responsible for them. It takes conscious energy to alter another energy pattern. By our thoughts, we are able to change the very patterns of energy trapped in our DNA. By learning how to consciously take the helm on our incoming/outgoing energy patterns, we can stop the accumulation of negatively charged energy that decreases the flow of healing and ascension. The second, equally important aspect is to clear out the remaining stagnant negative energy that has been trapped in our bodies, causing dis-ease. Piece of cake, right?

As we come into the physical world, we are like pristine lakes, filled with freshly fallen rain from the heavenly realms. Some lakes have strong swift currents in them, as they are connected to other bodies of water. This refreshes the lake, nurturing and revitalizing the life that resides in it, cleansing the entire eco-system that surrounds it. Some lakes have remained stagnant, cut off from the fresh input of clean water for so long, life is no longer a viable option. Sound like anyone you know? We can resuscitate the sluggish places in ourselves with intent, with love, and with patience. Then the people who surround us will start to be enlived by our very presence. That’s another story.

Universal intelligence equips us with all that we need for enlightenment, for cleansing, for healing, for coming back to spirit. The energy systems that spring from and form our bodies can be used for the defense of our being while we heal; this is the lower vibrational resource. Each chakra, every layer of our auric field can be employed for our benefit. Once a knowledge base is achieved, akin to a user’s manual, and our baseline motives are revealed, we can see where our major defense mechanisms spring from and decide on a course of action to heal them. Healing our core issues builds strength, not only in our personalities but in our energetic systems. We can then alter the resource we use to react to day-to-day issues.

When we are solid in ourselves, secure in our environment, and at peace with our spiritual wisdom, we become an immovable force, impenetrable to outside disturbances. We are able to function fully, expressing our true selves entirely, not rock solid like the oak tree, which breaks in the storm but having a flexible strength, like the willow, able to bend and flow in any situation. Becoming the willow will require a willingness to see honestly, in complete openness, the truth of one’s self. It takes time, patience, and practice, with a load of grace on the side…a never-ending process to be sure. Humans are complex beings, able to hide our deepest truths, not only from others but also from ourselves.

The ego is with us from birth; it is the self, the instinct to survive, the desire by which we discover our uniqueness. It is from the ego that fear-based defense mechanisms arise. Whether we choose to respond to the stimulus before us in love or fear, it is reinforced by repeated use. We have neural pathways in our brains, which as we learn or do anything get reinforced, like ruts in the road, becoming deeper and wider with use.

As infants, we are completely open in all our energy systems. Crying to have our needs met is a physical activity designed to anchor our base chakra to the earth. As we pull the energy down, we become more comfortable in our own skin, as it were. With the conscious use of our ego, remembering ego is neither good nor bad but a tool for our use while we need it, our higher chakras recede while the lower chakras build in strength. This also serves us, helping us forget our prior-to-birth selves, allowing further integration into the physical plane.

We re-enliven our higher chakras gradually as we age, and our self-centeredness evolves into a more global view. This begins with the realization that other people are separate beings, then the recognition of the family unit, then local society. Later we become cognizant of the world and our place in it. The gradual pace is a defense mechanism designed so that we are not overloaded by awareness when we are not yet ready.

Defense mechanisms are fail-safe devices, acting as buffers until we are capable of responding in love, not fear. Once the mechanisms are recognized, a person can then choose to alter their perceptions, which changes their behaviors, imprinting new responses to the same stimulus. The energetic systems then expand, allowing the blocked energy to be released, causing greater flow throughout the body, increasing health, awareness, and chi (energy).

The ego, once a valuable protection device, becomes “dispensable”. Like all other defense mechanisms, the ego must decrease as we become en-light-ened, dropping our heavy, lower vibrational baggage, to walk as unencumbered light beings. However, until the ego is convinced that we no longer need its protection, it will fight to survive. That is what it is designed to do – keep us alive by defending us from all perceived attacks.

Only by the gradual and intentional use of the love responses (forgiveness, humility, honesty, integrity) instead of the ego-based fear defense mechanisms (blame, shame, guilt, rage, helplessness) can we let the ego disappear completely. Do not give the ego any more power than that; it is a tool, nothing more.

How do we recognize a fear-based response, one that contracts us rather than expands? By paying extremely close attention to ourselves, gaining knowledge of how the universe works, and by asking it to be revealed, while it is occurring or while reflecting on the event.

We are each other’s keeper. Every person we have ever come into contact with is a mirror, showing us our true nature, as we are to them. Every emotional encounter is charged with what we need to pay attention to in ourselves. Every situation is one that we have called into existence by our creative thought energy, useful in our healing even before we are awake enough to see it.

When the realization that all we have suffered, the pain, the heartache, the human drama has been for our benefit, that each person has an individualized path for our mutual growth, and that we can neutralize fear with knowledge-based love really takes hold in our consciousness, we can end suffering for ourselves. We can walk this earth with confidence, no longer needing our ego-filled defense mechanisms to jump in front of us for protection. This state of grace is ours for the asking, but the inner work must be passed through. There are no shortcuts.

Dissecting the response to the stimulus will allow us to see where the root has been anchored, how deep it goes, and how we can pull it out completely. Knowledge is power, and the more we know about ourselves, the more powerful we become, for ourselves, our communities, our world. An empowered person has no need for defense mechanisms, no ego issues to declare. Think of how wonderful this world will be when we cease having to use this tool to survive.

When we listen to our bodies, emotions, and feel psychically our energetic bodies, we are able to control the emotional response before it takes control. By detaching the emotion – using your imagination to put the emotion on “pause”, placing it in a bubble, and putting it outside of yourself – it loses its charge. We see it for what it truly is, an emotion, e = energy in motion.

When we are no longer personally attached to the emotion, we no longer have to act on it. If we choose to bring the emotion back to us, we can at any time. With practice this becomes easier; the higher the charge on the emotion or the deeper the defense mechanism is, the more practice is required.

The first step is asking questions when the defensive emotion appears. What is it? Is it anger? Greed? Jealousy? Hopelessness? Desire? Where on the body do you feel it originates? How intense is the emotion? Any defense mechanism can be done to you or come from you. Remember, everyone is a mirror here to help us see ourselves. Any defense mechanism can aid a person in avoiding the core issue.

There are seven major chakras in the body. Each has a function differing from the others yet are connected by the energetic system which runs through our body. Surrounding us like an egg is the aura, each layer corresponding to a chakra. The energy of the emotion can be felt in or near a chakra, or if you are sensitive to energy scanning, can be felt in the layers of the aura. A brief explanation of which chakra correlates with which defense mechanism will help you understand how the body stores and uses these emotions.

1st chakra – base, located at the base of the spine at the tailbone in the back and the pubic bone in the front:

• Issues of: security, survival, safety, feelings of anxiety, frustration, helplessness, insecurity, greed, money or sex (men) issues
• Defense mechanisms: physical abusiveness, rebelling against society or family, body issues like anorexia, obesity, smoking, drug abuse, stealing, overly sexual or impotence, sexual abuse (men).
• Can feel the emotion: in the sexual organs (men), the hips, legs, feet, lower back.

2nd chakra – tan tien, located two inches below the navel:

• Issues of: sex (women), blocked creativity, repressed emotions, immobility.
• Defense mechanisms: emotionally explosive, sexual manipulation, need for control or to be controlled, overly sexual or frigid, emotional withdrawal, sexual abuse (women).
• Can feel the emotion: in the kidneys, sex organs ( women), bowels, lower back, bladder, large intestine.

3rd chakra – solar plexus, two inches below the breastbone:

• Issues of: power, ego, pride, self-esteem, blame.
• Defense mechanisms: overpowering, intimidation, overworking or underworking, also emotional withdrawal, and manipulation (he who cares the least has the most power).
• Can feel the emotion: in the stomach, liver, nerves, gut, gall bladder, pancreas, small intestines.

4th chakra – heart:

• Issues of: love, connecting the upper chakras (spiritual) to the lower (earthly), paranoia, unworthiness.
• Defense mechanisms: co-dependency, emotional blackmail, self-pity.
• Can feel the emotion: in the chest, lungs, heart, circulatory system, shoulders, upper back.

5th chakra – throat, in the v at the collarbone at the bottom of the neck:

• Issues of: communication, creativity in the written or spoken word.
• Defense mechanisms: verbal abuse, uncommunicative, lying, sarcasm.
• Can feel the emotion: in the throat, neck, teeth, ears, thyroid, skin.

6th chakra – third eye, between the eyebrows above the eyes:

• Issues of: not hearing intuition, superficiality, or too literal.
• Defense mechanisms: daydreaming, pollyanna- ism, being or attracting an energy vampire.
• Can feel the emotion: in the eyes, face, brain, lymphatic systems, endocrine system

7th chakra – the crown, at the top of the head:

• Issues of: frustration, lack of joy, destructiveness
• Defense mechanisms: migraine, depression, fanaticism, overly preoccupied.
• Can feel the emotion: in the soul, back of the head

How does it present itself? Sharp pain like a knife, or dull like novacaine? It can be felt on many levels: is there tension, tightness, is the pain psychological, physical, or emotional? Do you feel heavy, suffocated, controlled, light-headed?

Can you remember the very first time you felt it? Take the emotion backward in time. Does it have a taste, a smell, a memory? Identifying where it is, when it began, or how it affects you is a great indicator of where the causal fear resides.

Once you know all that you can about the response, again, realize that whatever occurred happened not only for your benefit but for the growth of the other people involved. We can gain control over the defense mechanism when a trigger point is presented to us. By examining the originating causes of our stressors, we gain control over them, activating a change to the love response in every situation that occurs. Then we will stop calling these situations to us because we have learned all that we needed to learn from them, and will no longer resonate at the same frequency. Can anyone say Hallelujah?

To grow into this safe space, an understanding of grace must be achieved. Grace to allow others their path, grace to understand that this was an agreement made before either of you were born for the benefit of you both, and the grace not only to forgive others but yourself as well.

Perception is reality. Know who you truly are. In love, all defenses dissolve.