The fear factor
The Dalai Lama once said, “If you have fear of some pain or suffering, you should examine whether there is anything you can do about it. If you can, there is no need to worry about it; if you cannot do anything, then there is also no need to worry.”
Letting go of fear can be the greatest challenge to overcoming fear. Sometimes we hold on to something thinking it empowers us; however, holding on only weakens us. Letting go of our fears allows us to focus more on the present moment and less on the fear itself.
Below are 10 techniques that can help with overcoming fear
- Reading a book can help and be motivational and provide inspiration.
- Action Fears are created by imagination which can make reality seem scarier than it is. When you act upon and face your fears, they can weaken remember the HeadGym blog on using your comfort zone. (no 3 Above)
- Watching a film or YouTube video can be as useful as reading a book to help with inspiration, motivation or learning new techniques or strategies for overcoming fear.
- When fear strikes, turn it around. Instead of thinking of something bad that can happen, think of something positive happening. imagine yourself being successful for example.
- Remember our brain will tend to focus the negative, consider all the options, you can often realise that you’re making a big deal out of nothing.
- Be kind to others. If you focus on helping people every now and then it may help with being self-conscious and make you feel good as well as the other person, it’s a win-win.
- Consider the challenges and fears your life, you may see that often, they have delivered a valuable learning that you needed.
- Mirror neurons. If you can find someone who had the fear you have but managed to overcome it. Contact them and find out how they did it, it could work for you. You may be able to find somebody who has written a book or made videos on the subject that you could access.
- Failure = learning Failure is not the end of the world failure is just a stepping stone to success and most of our fears are fear of failure.
- Focus Create a visualisation of yourself at the end of what it is you are fearful of (see yourself at the end of the task don’t focus on the details get a picture of you being ok with a smile on your face perhaps putting your feet up and relaxing) and use the visualisation when you start to feel fearful. More details and in-depth visualisation strategies can be gained at HeadGym’s webinars.