Mastering Your Fear And Anxiety

Mastering Your Fear And Anxiety

To be afraid or anxious is something that all of us experience at some point in our life. Some of us live with it on a daily basis. The interesting thing about fear and anxiety, is that it is not tangible. It is not like a physical issue where you can show the medical doctor or holistic therapist your boo-boo and have it fixed. What controls these feelings and emotions is when we project into the future an outcome to a situation that has not actually happened yet but we are now expecting the worst.

Fearlessness is not the absence of fear. Rather, it’s the MASTERY of fear. The great philosopher, Socrates states that it is knowledge of what is NOT to be feared is what makes us fearless.

There are things we should be afraid of, as in physical harm to stay alive. We will never completely eliminate fear from our lives, but we can definitely get to the point where our fears do not stop us from thinking about the possible outcomes in a new positive way, to think new thoughts, try new things, take risks, fail, start again, and learn to be proud of your effort of brushing off the “what ifs.”

According to the experts, there are ways to short circuit that little tiny cluster of brain neurons that create fear and push them to the back of the brain. Here are some of the key suggestions to master fear and anxiety, not perfect but the more you practice it, the more fearless you will react to challenges in your life.

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Tips to mastering fear

1. Breathing is the short circuit for anxiety. Yes, you have heard this one before and it can be redundant but it actually works! Quick shallow breathing is the first trigger that catapults all the other anxious symptoms into action. So, by controlling your breathing, you control all the other anxiety symptoms as well. If you purposely breathe out longer than you breathe in, your body has to calm right down (regardless of what tricks your imagination is playing on you).
2. Prepare for a peaceful and positive future performance on your part. If you get anxious and fear upcoming events, you’ll notice that just thinking about that interview, speech, or whatever will start to cause the physical responses of those qualities. This is where your imagination comes in. Literally sit yourself down and imagine seeing yourself handling the situation like the powerful Queen or King you are. Your body will immediately respond. If you have to do it 10x’s in an hour, then do it. The more you practice at it, the easier it will become.
3. Use a different part of your brain. When we become very fearful or anxious, it’s harder to think clearly. But if we force ourselves to use parts of ‘the thinking brain’, this will dilute the emotions and begin to calm you down. The easiest way to do this is with numbers. You can scale your own fear from 1 to 10, 10 being the most terrified it’s possible to be and 1 being the ultimate relaxed state. When you’re feeling anxious, ask yourself: “Okay what number on the scale am I right now? Am I a 7, or a 5?” Just doing this will lower fear and anxiety because it kick-starts the thinking brain, diluting the emotion and automatically making you calmer. Then begin to count backwards from 100. By the time you get to 1, your body will have relaxed.
4. Get control of your imagination. Fear and anxiety thrive when we imagine the worst. We developed imagination to be able to project into the future so we can plan ahead. However, a side effect of being able to imagine possible futures is also imagining things going wrong. A bit of this is useful but uncontrolled imagination is a breeding ground for anxiety and fear that can spoil the present moment you are in.

Susan Z

Susan Z Rich is an emotional addiction counselor, spiritual intuitive and holistic therapist. She counsels others to see life in a more positive way and teaches personal accountability for life choices. She is also the author of several children’s books and Soul Windows…Secrets From The Divine.