Especially when fear is intense, we’re afraid we’ll drown in it, be annihilated. So, to varying degrees, our primitive survival brain prompts us to cut off the raw emotional energy in our body; we bury or numb our feelings and preoccupy ourselves with thoughts. But when we pull away from fear and other painful emotions, we also pull away from our full presence and vitality. We pull away from our intelligence, creativity, and capacity for love.
Sometimes our unwillingness to experience our feelings shows up as depression. Sometimes it takes the form of chronic anxiety or irritation, with our muscles and posture tightening into what I often call “Worrier Pose.” It can appear as loneliness, restlessness, boredom, or a sense of operating on autopilot. And it often manifests as addictive behavior.
Whatever the expression, resisting fear puts us in a trance.
Tara Brach – Radical Compassion: Learning to Love Yourself and Your World with the Practice of RAIN p.91
The Sea Is Not Full 