The first step in reducing fear
We tend to fear the things we hate. So an important first step in reducing fear is to look at the thing we fear from a different perspective.
Fears are like everything in life; they have a good side and a bad side.
Nothing IS bad: there are always positive aspects that need to be acknowledged. If we take the time to consider the positive aspects of the things we fear, then we can start taking the power out of the fear. Reducing fear in this way doesn’t require any fancy techniques or know-how, it’s something we can all do. What we choose to focus on is entirely within our realm of choice.
Try this quick mind-shifting exercise for starters
Take something that you fear. We’re going to assume that you think it’s a bad thing (I know, sounds like a crazy assumption, but some people fear things that are great, like success! Which, by the way, has lots of negatives… but that’s a whole other blog post!)
Anyway, back to this.
This thing that you fear, write it down. Now I want you to come up with 20 reasons why it’s a good thing.
And that’s it!
Easy.
You’d think?
For some people, this might seem like a stretch and I get it.
When we’re in a place of fear, we struggle with thinking differently. This in itself is contributing to our fearful state. If you could more easily see alternative ways of thinking and behaving, you might be able to see new options, but at that moment you can’t. That’s OK. But that doesn’t mean that you can’t put on your must-try-harder hat and give it a go.
Once we make friends with the thing that we fear, we’re less likely to fear it.
Our fear only wants to protect us, but sometimes it gets confused. So we don’t want to banish it completely, we want to acknowledge it and make friends with it. Once we make friends with the thing that we fear, we’re less likely to fear it.
This is a great first step in reducing fear because it’s easy. But it also paves the way for further fear-clearance work, especially if you use our Head Trash Clearance Method – which eats fears for breakfast!
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