Overcoming Fear, Part 1

Photo by Sara Fogan

Galahad (front) and his half-brother, Amadeus,
a purebred Lipizzaner stallion

“Fear does not prevent death. It prevents life.” – Naguib Mahfouz

                Many of us fear the Great Unknown: a new experience, a new environment, a new member of our social circle. Will this unknown entity hurt or kill us? Or, will exposure to this X-factor make us more confident, stronger or self-resilient? No matter what frightens us, the emotion of fear is actually a great physical, emotional and psychological defense, because it is already known to the subconscious mind. We may not be afraid of the same things, but the experience of fear—especially, fear for personal survival—is a great equalizer in every species on the planet.

                I have certainly felt trepidation and even fear in various situations. I will not deny that when I first arrived in London to do my junior-year abroad, and then moved back to England in 1990 to do my post-graduate degree, I certainly felt some fear. I was on my own in a foreign country, thousands of miles away from my family, friends and familiar surroundings. But I wanted these experiences badly enough that I over-rode my fears of the unknown and struck out on my own in a foreign land. England became my “spiritual home,” and I made some very dear friends. I learned how to take care of myself, to think for myself and to be able to pick myself up after a disappointment and carry on, stronger than ever.

As my father likes to say, “Everything you do becomes a part of you.” Once I started my hypnotherapy training at the Hypnosis Motivation Institute in 2004, the basis of the subconscious mind’s strategies to guide our behavior in order to essentially protect us and insure our survival became very clear to me. According to HMI founder John Kappas, Ph.D.’s Theory of Mind, everything that is unknown to the subconscious mind is immediately, inherently something to be feared. The conscious mind—replete with our reasoning, decision-making, logic and will-power faculties—cannot easily over-ride this instinct until the subconscious mind accepts the stimulus as a known.

In addition to hypnosis, repeated exposure to an unknown or threatening stimulus can desensitize us to its negative (unfamiliar) aspects so that it eventually becomes a known in the SCM. Once you have had previous exposure to the original event, person or object, this experience can help you to create and activate a strategy that will enable you to meet and hopefully resolve a challenge or neutralize a perceived threat.

That is why I decided to clip the muzzles and bridle paths of each of my trainer’s four stallions.

 

 Sara R. Fogan, C.Ht. is a certified hypnotherapist based in Southern California. She graduated with honors from the Hypnosis Motivation Institute in 2005. For more information about Calminsense Hypnotherapy®, please visit http://www.calminsensehypnotherapy.com/.

© 2014