Releasing Fears and Phobias
Fear is one of those things that can grab the steering wheel of life and never leave the parking lot. We are born with two innate fears, fear of loud noises and fear of falling. The other fears we adopt along the way. At what age did I decide I had a paralyzing fear of spiders and heights? Why did I find it necessary to announce and validate these phobias?
When did I make the decision to adopt other fears? Fear on many levels has dictated my life. Whether I missed an opportunity secondary to a fear of failure or dwelled in a scarcity conversation, I was allowing fear to hold me hostage in my meager comfort zone. Fear is always the fertile soil for limiting beliefs.
One of the best techniques for dealing with phobias, general fears and limiting beliefs/decisions is Time Line Therapy® (TLT). TLT is a powerful therapeutic process developed by Tad James, PhD. The powerful process facilitates the elimination of the negative emotions attached to memories or events in the past utilizing the unconscious mind. This allows a client to release the emotions surrounding the original fear and gather learnings from the event. As a practitioner of NLP, Time Line Therapy® and hypnotherapy, TLT is one of my most powerful tools.
NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) has many tools and techniques for overcoming the fears that hold us hostage. One of my favorites is anchoring. Anchoring is the ability to transition to a more resourceful state instantly. In a pinch, someone can alter their state with visualization of a past event. An example would be someone fearing failure and feeling less than confident about a job interview. It would be beneficial for them close their eyes and recall a specific time through their own eyes when they felt confident. Take a moment to see what they saw, feel what they felt, and hear what the heard allowing the transition to the more resourceful state. The recommendation would be to access this preferred state from the past and really connect with the feeling (kinesthetic), visual, and auditory aspects. The ability to pull it into the future as a resource state is a very helpful tool.
Fear can control our lives, or we can control our fear. Remember, fears, phobias, and limiting beliefs are often a decision. A different decision is possible and accessible!