I have obsessed over what Joyce Carol Oates once 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’s pretty much how I feel about any words that come through me. What I know for sure is that I’d just be a messy, clogged, and kinked garden hose if it weren’t for the people who helped me let the water spray through. If this book helps anyone heal, it’s only because of some miraculous combination of the grace of God and those people who made it possible. Without their hand-holding and hose-unkinking, I simply could not have written it.
I must say this book became a beast I had no idea would fight me so fiercely, surely because my garden hose was wound so tight. As I got started, my cognitive mind researched and easefully wrote Part One of this book before the rest of me realized, “Oh crikey! I’ve just scared them more!” and was stunned silent—for two years. Then, in January 2014, with only three months until my book was due, I wound up teaching a teleclass series with my longtime friend and mentor Rachel Naomi Remen, M.D., who graciously wrote the foreword for this book. For two months, I sat at Rachel’s famous Kitchen Table every day and was moved, time and time again, to tears. About a month into our daily meetings, Rachel said, “Lissa, do you know why I am teaching Medicine for the Soul with you?” I had felt humbled and inadequate when she agreed to teach with me. I assumed she had done it so we could generate revenue to help support her nonprofit work. She shook her head and smiled with so much love. She told me she had done it so we could help grow each other’s souls.
I now suspect that the purposeful universe arranged for Rachel and me to sit side by side for two months so this book could be born. All I did was show up at my computer with willing hands, while something much larger than me flowed through my fingers, while Rachel held the possibility of this book gently, like she was tending a rosebud. Words cannot begin to express my gratitude to you, Rachel. When I was solidly stuck in my victim role, you loved me back to wholeness. Your presence in my life can only be described as the unearned blessing of grace. You are my family, and I appreciate you so much.
Infinite thanks also to Martha Beck, who once told me she would “hold the plane” for me when I was doubting my own journey through fear. Not understanding what she meant, I raised an eyebrow. Martha said, “You know how sometimes you’re dashing through the airport, with your bags banging into everything, rushing to try to make your flight. But then you remember that your friend is already on the plane, and she can tell the pilot, ‘Wait! Hold the plane! My friend is coming!’” When I started writing The Fear Cure, I had no faith that I would ever make it to the plane you were already on, Martha, but knowing that you believed I would get there in time somehow made it possible. I borrowed your faith when I didn’t have enough of my own. My gratitude for you is a waterfall that will never stop flowing. Thank you for introducing me to magic, tirelessly researching the mystical, normalizing my “crazy” experiences, and always leaving me laughing at the marvel of it all.
Much of the work of unclogging my garden hose came through Tosha Silver, who lovingly and fiercely held me accountable to staying aligned with what I was writing about and reminded me often who was really doing the writing. Many times I forgot and strayed out of alignment, and—bless your heart, Tosha—you never let me get away with straying far off course. Every time I thought I finally understood what you were teaching, my Small Self would find a new sneaky way to disguise itself and try to grab the wheel of Lissa. Thank God you were never fooled, and each time you steered me gently back to the truth. Meeting you has been a miracle.
If this book had a scenic backdrop, it would be the snowy mountains of Lake Tahoe, where I spent many hours sitting in a meadow while hashing out the content for this book with my soul twin Dennis Couwenberg, who was brave enough to go deep into the shadows with me as we took on the challenge of stripping back the onion layers of ego to illuminate our darkest fears together. Dennis, your willingness to examine your own relationship with fear—and to let me share your stories publicly—enriched this book beyond measure. You have been such an inspiration to me. As you sat there on that rollercoaster, strapped yourself into that harness to brave the ropes course, took on the inner journey of your silent retreat with Adyashanti, showed up for us both with Rose, faced your resistance by hiking up into the Andes, risked everything by leaving your stable career behind, and took on the demons of The General with the “game on” playfulness of your Magical Child, you demonstrated to me what it means to live a life of raw courage. Every time I think you’ve hit the end of what you’re willing to take on, you go further. And because you fill the journey to enlightenment with so much playfulness, I can’t resist coming with you. I will be forever grateful that you blew into my life, bringing with you a glimpse of freedom. I never wanted to do my work in this world alone, and now that I’ve found you, I trust that whatever we are meant to explore together in this world will unfold perfectly. When I think of getting up on stage with you beside me, I get goose bumps and feel like anything is possible. Thank you for reminding me who I am, why I’m here, and how unconditional love and total freedom really can coexist.
To April Sweazy, whom I dedicated this book to, when I see you every morning with your tousled hair and sleepy eyes, I pinch myself and laugh at the Universe’s wild sense of humor. I still remember you flying across the country to do a session with me all those years ago, when I had no idea what I was doing and you had no idea why you were flying to California to do a coaching session with some stranger. All I can say is that it’s a good thing Someone is orchestrating life way better than we ever could have! It’s a daily joy to have you as part of the family and to witness the courage you continue to demonstrate more and more all the time. Thank you for always having my back, for being a sounding board as I struggled through this book, for loving me unconditionally, for teaching me what real healing means, and for bravely adopting us as your family. I am grateful.
A special shout-out also goes to Sarah Drew, who steadfastly, with zero judgment, journeyed beside me as I struggled on the spiritual path. I once heard that when a soul has chosen to come to earth in a challenging human role, her spirit guide may choose to incarnate with her, in order to ease the journey and guide her through in human form. When I heard that, I instantly knew that if this was true, Sarah was the spirit guide who came here, like Mother Gaia herself, to wrap me in her expansive arms, engulf me in the feminine, and make it all okay. Thank you, Sarah, for being the best friend anyone could ever have.
Thank you, Anne Davin, for honing in like a laser on Truth and inviting me to see it through the lens of your brilliant perspective. Thank you also for all that you do with the business to amplify what we teach, ground it, deepen it, and lift it up. I’m also grateful to Bruce Cryer, who danced with me for a year before we ever knew each other’s names and who now runs my business, bringing to it the most gentle presence. Running this business with you is a joy. Thank you also to Pearl Roth and Beth Elliott, without whom none of my work would be possible. Without your tireless and often thankless dedication, we wouldn’t be gathering souls in communion the way we do. Thank you also to Bridgette Boudreau, whose work as the CEO of Martha Beck, Inc., and whose genuine friendship and guidance has steered me like a beacon in a business full of land mines.
Huge gratitude also goes to my best girlfriends Cari Hernandez, Rebecca Bass, Elisabeth Manning, Christine Hassler, Melanie Bates, Linda Rose, Rachel Carlton Abrams, Amy Ahlers, Tricia Barrett, Sera Beak, Katsy Johnson, Maggie Varadhan, Kira Siebert, and Kris Carr, who have unconditionally loved and accepted me and my Small Self for many years, always standing for my soul while gently comforting the scared, small parts of me that have resisted my own growth. You have been steadfast in your support of me, and I am ever grateful.
I am also immensely grateful to the Divine men in my life—Jon Rasmussen, Nicholas Wilton, Fred Kraziese, Steve Sisgold, Chris Guillebeau, Rafael Bejarano, Nick Polizzi, Scott Dinsmore, Larry Dossey, Jonathan Fields, and Ken Jaques. Without the masculine arms within which you have all held me, I wouldn’t have been able to let go on the dance floor of life the way I do.
A special thanks to Barbara Stanny, who gifted me with the use of her Lake Tahoe chalet, where most of this book was birthed. Thank you to the late Elizabeth Lloyd Mayer (“Lisby”), whose book research and book Extraordinary Knowing deeply influenced this book. Thank you also to Betsy Rapaport, who helped finish Lisby’s book after Lisby died. Sometimes it takes one scientist speaking to another to crack the shell of ego that makes us lose the eyes to see.
Thank you also to my family—Siena Klein, Matt Klein, Trish Rankin, Chris Rankin, Keli Rankin, and, if he were still with us, Dave Rankin. I know this journey I’ve been on has been challenging for all of us. When we wake up and start to question the unconscious agreements we’ve made with our families and dismantle codependence, it can easily be mistaken for rejection, when really, it’s a whole new level of healthy love. Thank you for your patience with me, and please know that I love you all beyond measure and am infinitely grateful I hit the jackpot of being born a Rankin in this lifetime.
Thank you to all of the physicians and health care providers in the Whole Health Medicine Institute. Knowing you are in the world, acting as ambassadors for the work presented in my books, brings immeasurable peace to my heart, reminding me that it really does take a village. Bless you for being my village and making it possible for me to do the work I do with so much pleasure! I love you all and am unspeakably grateful.
And of course, to everyone at Hay House, without whom this book would never have come into being, enormous thanks, especially to Reid Tracy, Louise Hay, Patty Gift, Anne Barthel, Sally Mason, Richelle Zizian, and Lindsay McGinty, for supporting me fiercely as I took on the behemoth of this book. I’m also very grateful to Bob Marty, who produced my national public television special about The Fear Cure. And savoring one of my biggest appreciations last, I’m especially grateful to my literary agent and dearest friend, Michele Martin, who walked with me to the edge of crazy and back, without ever once making me worry that she wouldn’t be certain to come all the way with me, wherever I dared to go. Michele, you have lived this book with me, championing it (and my role as its spokesperson) when I doubted it all and was ready to throw in the towel. Were it not for you, The Fear Cure would not exist as anything other than scribbles on napkins and meaningless mumbo-jumbo in a dozen Word documents I might never have been brave enough to tackle. It really does take a village to write a book like this, and I have been incredibly blessed with a community of loving, supportive fellow villagers. In an industry that tends to try to keep authors in safe, predictable boxes, it has been an enormous blessing to feel so courageously supported by all involved in the creation and distribution of this message as I pushed the envelope of what “medicine” really can be.
Because of everyone I’ve mentioned here—and those I haven’t mentioned by name who have also blessed me and this book (you know who you are, beloveds!)—I have learned what love really is. Byron Katie says that personalities can’t love. They just want something. But once fear moves to the side, a new kind of love can step in. I now define love this way: Love is gently pushing the leading edge of soul growth (for yourself and another) while patiently comforting the lagging edge of the Small Self (for yourself and another). It takes everything I have to accept that I might actually be worthy of such an expansive love. The way I see it, the Universe sent some of the most enlightened people on the planet to love me into alignment and help me write this book. It almost feels too good to be true, until I breathe … and know that love is who we are, and we are all just remembering what has been true all along.
The ultimate acknowledgment goes to that which lives in me and in you, surrounding us and animating All That Is, that which did the actual writing of this book and breathes life force into each of us as the unique expression of the Infinite. What a blessing. I am grateful grateful grateful.