Your mindset will impact your personal state of consciousness, your perception, and your experiences in every dimension. Every fearful belief is like an anchor. Nothing will stall your exploration progress more than accepting the false beliefs and limits of others.

Recognize and confront your known fears, or they will continue to constrain you. This is why I stress the importance of our self-empowered mindset and attitude. See this as an opportunity to work on yourself, your state of consciousness, in a practical way.

Always remember that you are the powerful creator of your experiences! As consciousness you are immortal, nothing external can limit you except the self-imposed restrictions that you internalize.

Why do we become fearful sometimes while in an altered state?

In the realm of consciousness exploration, what you believe will influence the subtle energy reality you experience.

Nonphysical realities are highly thought-responsive. We are never objective observers when we enter nonphysical environments; we are interactive participants. Our thoughts and beliefs—whether conscious or subconscious—possess immense creative potential. Every thought is a powerful projection of energy. This applies to all aspects of our life; if you believe in negative entities, you can manifest them. So be hyper-aware of what you feed your mind because your thoughts will impact your perceptions of reality during your journeys.

Here are five common questions that I receive about fears and the truth about why they are unfounded:

1. Can you become lost or unable to return to your body?

The opposite is true; during an OBE any thought focused on your physical body will return you to it. Our instinctive focus on our physical body explains why most OBEs are often brief experiences. To become an effective explorer of nonphysical realities we must train ourselves to remain focused beyond our physical body.

In my personal experience, I can recall a time when I was in such physical pain, that my only relief was during an OBE. I tried—unsuccessfully—to remain on the astral to escape the agony. Even in this extreme instance I was unable to stay detached from my physical body.

2. Can the silver cord break during OBEs?

The silver cord is not a physical object and therefore it cannot break.

At night during sleep, everyone moves out of phase with their physical body. In a sense, each of us separates from our body and recharges our batteries during this essential inner-energy process. When we sleep, we are all partially out of our physical bodies. Some OBE explorers have observed this energetic separation process during sleep.

Our magnificent universe and our personal energetic life systems are designed for success. There is nothing more natural than humans experiencing their true self beyond the temporary vehicle of the physical body.

3. Will I encounter frightening creatures?

When we explore consciousness, we are entering a thought-responsive multidimensional continuum where focused thoughts can take form. Looking back, I have been surprised and startled on occasion by nonphysical inhabitants and realities. As explorers of nonphysical realities, it is important for us to remain open minded and refrain from the need to immediately label things we do not fully understand.

Our thoughts and attitudes are an energetically creative force that influences our immediate nonphysical reality. For example, the creature I experienced in Adventures Beyond the Body (page 249) was scary at first. Then I realized that my thoughts were the creator of the form-based creature and I recognized the entire experience as a powerful opportunity for me to confront and resolve my own subconscious fears.

4. Are OBEs or the vibrational state harmful?

No! The vibrational state and OBEs are a positive indication of our inner energy flow. This energy flow is essential for good health. I personally feel that my OBEs and the vibrational state helped me to hasten my recovery from stage-four cancer. Just to be clear, I repeat, “hasten my recovery.” I did not say magically cure. This is based upon a simple fact; our inner energy flow is essential for optimum health and healing of the physical body. A closed or restricted personal energy flow is a precursor to illness. The very nature of OBEs helps us to remain energetically open.

5. Can sleep paralysis create negative effects?

Sleep paralysis is a natural process designed to keep our physical body immobile during dreams. For some, it is a normal and effective precursor to OBEs. I welcome sleep paralysis because it is a clear and positive indication that I am ready to exit my body. One of the methods to self-initiate OBEs is to remain calm during sleep paralysis and direct your complete attention away from your body. The silent affirmation, “Door Now!” has worked for me.

What should I do if I find myself confronted by a frightening experience?

If you are in an experience that makes you uncomfortable, remember that you have created this in your subconscious mind. It most likely happened to assist you in some way—possibly to identify a thing or place that needs your attention or action. You cannot be harmed. Like in my own personal experience, I have found that sending waves of love to the situation will dissolve the fear. This is a lucid dream that I had recently. It illustrates how I successfully confronted a fear.

“I found myself fully dressed in a business suit standing by the edge of an Olympic-size swimming pool. To my surprise, I was about to be in a high diving competition with my team. They were dressed in their regulation swimwear. I think I must have gotten the time wrong, and that is why I was not dressed appropriately. It was my turn so I slowly climbed the ladder that led to the highest board. I was petrified as I looked down and realized my dive was a backwards flip while fully dressed in a business suit. And to make it worse, the board had no flexibility. I hesitated as I looked down at the water, but my teammates were cheering me on and that gave me confidence to continue—I was motivated by their positive feelings. I finally gathered the courage to make the dive. Off the board I went and bang I was awake.”

This is an example of having a few anomalies in a dream (dressed in a suit, board did not flex, my timing was off). I was confronting some general fear, but the feeling of love and support from my team helped me to complete the jump.

Can I be harmed from electrical lines or lightning during my OBE?

No! We are no longer in the physical dimension during an OBE. As a test I have flown into the Sun on two different occasions. It was exciting and completely safe. Surprised, I felt no heat at all; just pure consciousness.

At some point in our journey, we are likely to be presented with a valuable opportunity to confront and potentially resolve our own deep-seated fears. We should consider any frightening situation as an opening to resolve the fear and free ourselves from this energy block.

How do I enhance/expand my inner explorations?

The answer is to confront and dissolve your fears, both conscious and subconscious!

Yes, fear confrontation and removal are a challenging process, especially since most of our fears are subconscious. How do you effectively develop a fearless mental mindset? It often requires a mind-expanding personal realization/experience. A life-changing shift of our consciousness requires us to take action.

To be clear, being fearless during altered states and OBEs is a major game changer. This fearless mindset comes with inner experience and the absolute knowing (not belief) that you cannot be harmed for you are immortal and powerful as consciousness. To dramatically expand your inner journeys of consciousness, it’s critical to purge your fears and expand your mindset. I have experimented with this fear purging process over many decades by intentionally pushing my personal OBE limits.

One of my favorite OBE fear reduction methods is to focus and demand to fly into the sun. It’s a mind-expanding and liberating experience.

• Immediately after full separation from the physical, silently focus and demand a single clear intention for immediate action.

• “I fly into the SUN NOW!”

• If you are ready for the experience, you will perceive yourself flying upward or inward at incredible speed and then entering/experiencing an immensely powerful energy source.

My Journal entry: “All motion ceased, and I “sensed” the outer layers of myself are being dissolved away. I sensed or felt no heat, just a pure, powerful consciousness saturating my entire being. I perceived that all of my emotions, thoughts, beliefs, physical self-identity, concepts were being dissolved or melted away, purified and cleansed. I experienced myself becoming lighter, brighter, without form, a point of awareness. I’m floating in a blissful weightless state that is beyond my words to adequately express.”

This fear-reduction method may sound weird to some, but this experience is empowering beyond words. Later that month and year, I noticed a shift in my OBEs. My nonphysical experiences were enhanced; they were of longer duration with better memory recall and clarity! After much thought, I’m sure this was the result of my fear-reduction efforts. With this experience and others, I absolutely knew that I cannot be harmed or die, no matter how extreme the nonphysical reality test I encountered. I learned to completely trust my immortal inner self, and to embrace all forms of rapid change and shifts of energy. I know that I possess no inherent form or mass, no human form.

On many occasions I experienced myself as a point of consciousness with 360-degree perception. I absolutely know without a doubt that I am immortal as consciousness. I know that our inherent fear of death or harm were false beliefs that only held me back from my potential.

Be creative and experiment with fear-reduction methods during a lucid dream or deep meditation, you have nothing to lose but your fear!

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During every experience we carry our individual mental baggage including our subconscious boundaries. Identify and confront your known fears. My wife is afraid of high bridges, so to confront this, she walked the top span of the famous Sidney, Australia Harbor bridge.

As a child I struggled with school speaking assignments due to a stutter. I overcame this issue by practicing my book reports and class presentations to my mother and friends. I can also see that my previous career choices (prior to OBE workshops) prepared me for my future I was often required to make presentations to small groups. Gradually the audiences became larger and the content more complex, but it still took practice to become totally comfortable in my new role. After several conferences and workshops, it became very natural.

It is important to confront your fears and eliminate them from interfering in your daily life; this will carry over to your nonphysical explorations.

If you desire to become an effective explorer of nonphysical thought-responsive realities, you must release the lingering fears that restrict your progress. This is an essential element of personal self-empowerment. No more excuses. Reject the archaic belief systems and fear-based assumptions. We are the sole creator of our experiences; accept and embrace your immense creative abilities in every reality you encounter.