Whether you believe it or not, fear is our greatest enemy.
It is the reason why millions of people give up on their passions. They fear failure, or fear what others will think, and begin to doubt their capabilities.
Fear is the reason behind failure, sickness, giving up, bad relationships and so on. We are afraid of the past, the future, old age, the unseen and even death. Fear is a thought in the mind. You listen to that thought; you imagine it and eventually start to believe in it. It then consumes you. When that happens you become afraid of your own thoughts.
Fear can become so powerful that it can resonate with you for the rest of your life. Let’s take an example; if you keep telling your child to go to bed and they don’t listen, most parents will scare them by saying a boogieman is hiding under the bed and he will take you away if you do not sleep.
This can have a negative impact on the child’s mind. They will believe it and will be afraid to sleep. The fear of the boogieman becomes real for him. This can be reversed if the parent turns on the light and shows the child there is no boogieman. When the child sees it and believes it only then will they be healed of a false thought in the mind.
Our fears have no reality; they are merely negative thoughts we build in our mind. Fear is like a shadow. It follows wherever you go but does not actually exist.
Change Your Mindset
I was recently watching a YouTube video on public speaking and the presenter was telling the audience that he used to have anxiety and panic attacks before public speaking. He decided to work on his fear and change his mindset.
For several days he would go into his quiet study room sit on a comfortable chair and relax his mind and body by taking deep breathes. For 10 minutes he would continuously say to himself in a slow, quiet and positive way:
“I am going to overcome this fear. I am overcoming it now. I am confident. I am smart. I am relaxed and at ease”.
This is known as positive affirmations. You keep telling your subconscious mind positive thoughts, listen to them carefully and start to believe it. The subconscious mind is easily persuaded by suggestions that you tell it.
When you are relaxed the thoughts of your conscious sink down into the subconscious by a process that is similar to osmosis.
Do What You Fear
Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “Do the thing you are afraid to do, and the death of fear is certain.”
If you are afraid of something don’t let it overcome you. You have to face it head-on. Be positive towards that fear and master it. You will be able to change your mindset towards it and your conscious mind will no longer look at it as a fear. That is when you know you have conquered it.
An excellent example that we all could relate to is Batman. Bruce Wayne had a fear of bats because his subconscious mind related bats to his parent’s death. Throughout his life, he lived in fear because he built it up in his mind and never faced it. During training with Ras Al Ghor, Ras told him that he has to face his fear if he wanted to move forward in his life. He overcame it and used it as his strength to became Batman.
Master This Technique to Overcome Fear
The following is a process that you can use in order to overcome fear. Do it about 3-4 times a day for 10 minutes. Give it a try.
Let’s suppose you are afraid of swimming. Sit down in a quiet room and comfortable chair. Close your eyes and breath slowly. Notice you inhaling and exhaling.
Imagine you are swimming. Project the thoughts of swimming in your mind. Mentally believe that you are in a pool, standing in the water, feeling the water against you. You feel the cold water and you are moving your arms and legs. It is a fun and exciting experience, as you are relaxed and it feels good to be swimming. As you begin to imagine this, the subconscious mind will begin to rewire itself from the negative thoughts of swimming into positive thoughts. This is the law of the subconscious.
You can apply this technique to almost any fear that you may have. Just imagine the fear is a more positive way.
Do comment below and let me know what is holding you back and if you have any other techniques that you follow to overcome your fears.
Originally published at besomebody.com