Objectifying our Fears and Emotions – Overcoming Fear Part – 6

Written by admin on February 24, 2010 – 4:49 pm -

 

We can develop separateness from our fears and other emotions by objectifying the part of ourselves, which feels those emotions. This can done by:

a. Drawing how we imagine that part of our being to look.

b. Writing a letter to that part of our personality.

c. Engaging in a written or verbal dialogue with it.

d. Allowing this part of ourselves to express itself through dance.

In these ways, we are able to realize that we are not that part of ourselves, which is programmed to fear.

Function Parallel to It

Then we can function parallel to it. Even though one part of ourselves does not want to proceed out of fear, we can move forward in spite of those feelings.

This is called living parallel with the fear. We observe it, recognize it, and accept it, but function parallel to it, doing what we actually fear to do. This is also very much like behavioral therapy in which we gradually come into contact with the aspects in life that we fear most.

The following is a letter written by a young man at the age of 25 after occasional periods of residing in a clinic for mental health. He has understood his fear well and his letter will help us also understand ours.

A Letter Addressed To Fear

“Dear Fear,

“I think I know quite a lot about you. With God’s help, I more or less came to understand how you were born and how later you became so huge that you broke up my existence.

“The seed that bore you may have come from previous lives, but you fell on fertile ground, found the right conditions and grew so as to threaten everything inside of me. The ambience within the family, traumatic experiences, and perhaps things still unknown to me and yet to come, all served as food for you.

“Now that you have gone into orbit and are so low in the sky that soon you will sink, I can see you as a huge piranha with innumerable black tentacles, an entity close to the form of death.

“I say that you are low in the sky because you still hold me captive, a prisoner. I know you originally came to protect me, but you hugged me dangerously tight, distorted my ideas, engendered violence and aggression, overfed my ego and almost destroyed me.

“You grew metastasis in every part of my being to such a degree that at the sound of your name alone I became terrified. I am afraid even when you are not there. In the end, like a ghost, you began to haunt me always and everywhere. In this ceaseless running you have imposed upon me, I have been running down many evil and dangerous roads.

“There is no doubt that if it weren’t for you, I would not be escaping to find new horizons. Although I have tasted death because of you and am still in pain, I thank you for chasing me. On the dark paths I had taken, I suddenly saw in the sky a star, like a flickering candle, which began to guide me and determine my life.

“As time goes by, slowly but steadily, and this star shines more brightly and make my progress surer, I want you to understand that this light is divine and will gradually illuminate every nook and cranny of my being, the places where you are now.

“So I thank you for bringing me so far to protect me. Now I don’t need you anymore. Go away. My real self is beginning to grow. That which fears nothing is strong and serene.

“As for you, the dwellings you find and the reality in which you flourish are all nothing but delusion.

“I thank God that, with His help, I dare to face you. With the ever- increasing light I shall beam onto you, you will begin to disappear, seeking another dark place in the shadows.

“I am already certain that you are low in the sky and someday will no longer exist. ”

This letter teaches some important points about fear and coming to terms with it.

a. The writer speaks of coming to understand how this fear was born in his mind. In this way, he objectifies it and can then perceive it as something separate from himself, which was programmed into him at some particular moment.

b. He gives it a form, a “huge piranha.” This also facilitates objectifying and distancing it.

c. He understands that at first the fear was a protective mechanism, but it then got out of control.

d. He realizes now that he does not need it for protection, that he can find healthier forms of protection.

e. He also realizes he can heal this part of himself by sending love and light, for fear can exist only in darkness, ignorance and a lack of love.

We suggest that you read the previous and forthcoming sections of this series.

May you be well

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Facing our Fears – Overcoming Fear – Part 4

Written by admin on February 24, 2010 – 1:34 pm -

 

As human beings in the process of evolution, it is imperative that we overcome the bondage of fear so we may experience the security, peace, love, courage, faith, wisdom, understanding and fulfillment which we desire, deserve and which is our destiny. Fear binds us to a lower level of consciousness with less love and happiness.

Actual Contact

One way to overcome a fear is to gradually approach that being, object or situation in gradual but increasing doses. We will, in this way, by experience, learn that in reality it is harmless to us. Fear of the sea could be gradually overcome by immersing our bodies, allowing the water to come up to our ankles, knees and so on over a period of time. Fear of heights can be eventually conquered through exposure to gradually increasing heights.

This technique can be used with the fear of any real object or situation. The important factor to remember is to make the right dosage of contact. We should start slowly and bring ourselves just to the threshold of fear, just where fear begins and where we can still observe and work with the fear through breathing and relaxation.

Later, the experience can be repeated, this time increasing contact with that which is feared, playing with our limits, and learning to relax while in contact. We can relax by breathing slowly and deeply while reminding ourselves of the truth that we are not actually in danger, but that our mind is being controlled by some false conditioning, probably from some past experience.

At the moment we begin to feel fear, we can begin to breathe more slowly and deeply, while concentrating on relaxing the body and mind. We will notice that certain muscles begin to tense up. We can relax these muscles with the help of the breath and mental messages of relaxation.

We may remember thoughts that help us to feel more secure or bring to mind any frame of reference that allows us to feel security and protection, such as God, or various spiritual or logical truths. We can remind ourselves that our imagination is being exploited by our unfounded fears and that the danger we feel is not real.

Mental Contact

Contact with the feared can also be made through the subconscious mind and the imagination. Through methods of relaxation, self-hypnosis, mind control, and positive projection techniques, we can imagine having contact with the feared.

When we imagine ourselves in contact with the feared object or situation, we might find that we experience the same types of emotional and physical reactions as we do when actually in contact. We can then visualize alternative ways of feeling and reacting to that previously feared situation.

If we have feared certain animals, insects, or even certain types of people, we can imagine ourselves as feeling safe, secure and peaceful while in contact with them. We can imagine ourselves feeling safe, self-confident and courageous.

Such reprogramming of the subconscious mind will eventually alter our reactive mechanisms to life. Those who are already experienced in such techniques can do such reprogramming sessions alone, but some will need guidance in getting started.

Those, who choose to, can even imagine accepting (not desiring, but accepting) death. We can eventually reprogram ourselves to believe in our indestructible soul nature, thus removing all fear at the root.

There are three approaches here.

a. Some prefer to project that nothing unpleasant will ever happen to them. This is useful and will, to a large extent, send out positive energies to our environment, creating a positive reality. Of course, we will all eventually die and all lose our loved ones at some point. No amount of projection will prevent this.

b. Others choose to imagine all in God’s light and leave the specifics of what will happen to some higher and wiser power, such as God.

The first technique is an active projection of what we want to happen and the second is a passive acceptance of whatever is best.

c. A third possibility would be to project what we prefer in each situation and then offer it to God, placing it in light and completing our “prayer” with the thought, “May the Highest Good for all occur in this situation.”

“Energy Meridian Based Psychology” = EMDR – TFT – EFT

These initials stand for the latest techniques for freeing ourselves from unwanted emotions. These will be explained in greater detail in future articles. Let is suffice to say that:

1. EMDR Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (Francine Shapiro) needs to be applied by an experienced EMDR practitioner who will enable us to come into contact with the traumatic event which is causing our fear, pain, guilt, self-rejection or other negative emotion. After doing so, the memory will be discharged and then reinterpreted as we introduce the logic or truth we chose into this previously traumatic memory, thus healing us of this problem.

2. TFT or Thought Field Therapy (Dr. Roger Callahan) deals with the specific energy field which is generated by each thought and allows us to heal this energy field, thus removing the cause of that specific emotion. Thus we focus on what we fear and then tap on specific acupuncture points in order redistribute that energy field and thus collapsing the energy disruption (identified with that thought) which was creating the emotion. This, too, often requires an experienced practitioner

3. EFT of Emotional Freedom Therapy (Gary Craig) is a simplified version of TFT, which we can employ on ourselves. We bring to mind whatever causes our negative emotion (such as fear or anxiety) and then tap on specific points in order to correct that disruption in the energy field, which creates the emotion. The thought creates the energy field and the energy field creates the emotion. If we correct the energy field the emotion disappears.

In my 35 years of counseling, I have found no techniques more effective than these. You can change your life through them.

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Xenophobia: Part 1 of the Zukunftsangst Series

Written by admin on February 24, 2010 – 1:18 pm -

Product Description
The “Zukunftsangst Series” is a set of Science-Fiction novels in the tradition of “Island of Dr. Moreau”, “Andromeda Strain” “Jurassic Park” or films such as “Blade Runner” and “Gattaca”, i.e. they are more Science-Fact than Science-Fiction. Zukunftsangst is a German Cold-War term meaning “Fear-of-the-Future”, which may best embody current paranoia of what the future may hold in store for humanity. The Zukunstangst Series is set in the near future, in a world devast… More >>

Xenophobia: Part 1 of the Zukunftsangst Series

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