Tag Archives: fear

Shrinking Your Fear

Create a mental picture of the thing you fear. Now change its dimensions. If you are scared of social situations, imagine that the people you are going to meet are the size of peanuts. If you are scared of flying, imagine looking down on a tiny plane. If you are scared of small spaces, imagine yourself as a teeny, tiny person surrounded by acres of space.

Encourage the image to become as ludicrous as possible, and fill it with movement and color and sound. If you are scared of flying, imagine yourself wearing two plane-shaped roller skates. If you are scared of your boss, imagine him or her as a tiny dot of a person who is shouting to be heard but all you can hear is a distant squeaking. If you are afraid of being in a tall building, imagine yourself playing with cardboard boxes which look like buildings and which you can stack and rearrange at your whim.

Whatever your fear, diminish it to a point where it is unable to affect you and where you are controlling it. Enjoy feeling strong, confident and having fun.

Fear of Fear of Itself

Perhaps it’s true to say that no one actually fears heights or change or the unknown, or whatever their particular brand of fear is. What they really fear is the out-of-control feeling they experience when confronted by these things. Take flying. The tendency is to focus on the plane. But it’s nothing to do with the plane. Continue reading