Imagine if you could 'see' your 'fear' .

Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart ... Who looks outside, dreams. Who looks inside, awakens.’ — Carl Gustav Jung DO you struggle with Anxiety,Phobia's,or low Self Esteem?.... IF SO.... rnI believe we are all in charge of our own destiny. However,... the following emotional complaints can and do hold you back, IF you have not found strategies to help deal with them ! Anxiety is a hard to pinpoint 'worry/uncertainty/nervousness', it is actually concerning the future (at an unconscious level) & focusing on what you don't want to have or happen.It is very cunning and produces an array of unpleasant physical symptoms that we feel NOW... It is important to realise it is created by the imagination,and when understood,begins to lose its power!rnAnxiety can be confused with fear which is when, in the past, we have actually experienced being afraid/frightened by something and the experience taught us to fear it. Fear is not exactly pleasant by nature and it is natural to want to avoid it,however,when fear is understood...it loses its power! The two are often confused and described as the 'fear of fear'. Anxiety = future... but can be felt now. Fear = Past event,...(learnt) but can be felt now. The common thread with these two are, both involve using your own imagination to a) recall a past fearful event or b) project into the future to an an event that makes you feel nervous actually now. Could I suggest accepting fear as fear, and anxiety as anxiety ?..I think its of great importance to create the distinction in something that 'feels' similar if not the same! Its not surprising it all gets a bit confusing though, to have a thought takes 300 milliseconds! Limiting beliefs/decisions-which are 'rules' we unconsciously put on ourselves (I can't do that,I'm not good enough,etc). &rnNegative emotions such as anger,sadness,fear,hurt,and guilt,that all humans beings have experienced, and over time can add up to emotional 'baggage'. All of the above especially if they were/are inapproriate can stop us moving on in life, and can create difficulty achieving what we really want to achieve. Would it not be liberating to be released from all the inappropriate negative emotions from the past, and start anew,I think it would, would you not agree? Here is a little insight,...rnThe unconscious mind does not know the difference between imagination and reality, thats why if you are phobic of spiders for example, you can, just by thinking of them, begin to experience the symptoms of a real threat.. (Fear,& frightening 'feelings', caused by stimulation of the sympathetic nervous system, that produce chemicals associated in the 'fight or flight' response). We can then develop avoidance strategies that just reinforce the perception that "If I avoid that thing/place/situation, then I won't feel faint/strange/scared".This may very well work in the short term until...avoided enough..it becomes part of our 'reality' and hey presto;..one ingrained spider phobia. The answer lies in how we 'imagine' what we do and in turn how that can effect our behaviour.rnSomeone who isn't afraid of spiders 'see's' inside their mind a picture differently to some one who flee's from them,the good news is,using the capability of being able to use our imagination,we can also change a picture/thought/feeling towards the spider thus negating the debilitating original reaction to it. You know how you can get nervous thinking about an up and coming exam,flying,meeting,the future in general,well thats your imagination creating your own personal perception of fear of an event that hasn't even yet happened! Think about it,.. Thats a good vivid imagination you have there!!rnAnxiety can help you to get into action,to get motivated, but so can being excited..which would you prefer? It is important to get in the habit of feeling relaxed;meditation,yoga,inspiring positive books, begin to set the frame that Anxiety is not the only choice.rnIn fact one can be so used to being anxious that when practising being relaxed,at the very moment the mind/body connection 'feels' relaxed the anxiety habit can 'fire off' an anxious trigger.It could be a sudden sensation/feeling/thought that something completely awful will happen-you don't know what as usual (remember it takes 300 milliseconds to have a thought!) If you feel/sense/-however you specifically do the trigger of panic, and I know it can come in a myriad of ways,just in your mind let it wash over you... practice breathing strategies.. yes they DO work and let that thought/feeling/bodily sensation perhaps have a colour or shape to it that you personally can recognise, let it be known to you at last that you can 'see' your fear..I promise you will begin the journey to conquer it.The unconscious mind works symbolically, and just by giving this faceless horror a tangible quality like a colour,or shape,you can give this thing that thrives on not being understood (illogical)some understanding (logic).Once understood the fear symptoms will not feel so intense and the anticipatory levels of experiencing another (big red ball for example.. instead of anxiety/panic attack),will not be so frequent...and confidence will begin to return and expand in to other areas of your life,as the anxiety limited you,the new found confidence could even give you more freedom than you knew before. Language is oh so important PANIC ATTACK implies a good beating with the PANIC stick.. BIG RED BALL sounds very threatening doesn't it? Unless you have a phobia of them in which case please insert your prefered non threatening image here ( ).rnAlways remember,although you feel alone,you are not: it again is a 'feeling' a 'sensation' from your unconscious mind willing your conscious mind to take action. One last thing, when you think of anxiety or you're having an anxiety attack ask yourself this- How do you know this is an anxiety attack and not excitement? I know this could sound flippant,even patronising,and I apologise if it does,but when I was on an NLP course way back, when I said to a respected British NLP trainer that I have had anxiety attacks,she replied with 'Who told you it was anxiety?' I said 'the doctor' and she said 'What was it about it, that might of just made it excitement but in a different form,because do you think there is only one way to experience excitement?' With this statement I had to look into myself for the answer, and like in many NLP trainings there was a 'light bulb' moment when I thought wow maybe all along my perception was or at least, could have been wrong! rnYou know what,after that I honestly never thought the same way about anxiety. "One must feel chaos within,to give birth to a dancing star" - Friedrich Nietzchern