Halloween conjures up our fears and phobias. Have you noticed how eerie it can be at night - a "lonely" night or a night that would be ideal for a horror movie! Have you noticed how the best horror movies feast on your imagination, it's so dark you can't see anything but the music and atmosphere it creates, for example, hearing footsteps following the future victim and as the “victim” hurries, the footsteps behind hurry too and you, the viewer, can feel your heart racing and feeling the fear - all with the build up from your imagination.
What is fear? Fear is False Expectations Appearing Real. It is the unknown rather than the reality that frightens.
With hypnosis you can learn to overcome your fear whether it is the dentist, flying, dogs or water. Sometimes the fear is not, for example, the dark itself etc but is the "unknown" element. It doesn’t make sense to the subconscious mind. This I like to call the "what if" and that can be where the fear grows strongest because your imagination fuels it and the worse the scenario the more your heart races, the whole stress cycle is active in your body. When this happens the heart is working overtime and this increases the blood pressure in the body. But for some people, the heart can't push enough blood through fast enough and when blood pressure drops suddenly fainting will occur. All the physical feelings one associates with fears and phobias is a physiological reaction to what is imagined.
The stress cycle begins when we feel threatened, whether this threat is real (being physically attacked) or imagined (it’s a wintery night and you hear sounds of twigs breaking) – either scenario will trigger the stress cycle. During the stress cycle, all energies are sent to your hands and legs (to fight and/or run away) and non-essential systems shut down to the lowest possible running (for example your digestive system slows down). When the stress abates then normal functioning of the body’s system returns to normal. However, if you find that you are confronted by your fear on a continual basis, you not be able to turn off your stress response. Your thoughts will continue with the “what if” scenario.
What happens in hypnosis and NLP is that you feel your fear to its full extent and learn techniques to give you immediate relief and control. Once you feel in control, you begin the process of conquering your fear. You see it in a different light. The “what if” becomes “what can I do to make it better” and so your subconscious mind gives you positive solutions rather than the worry associated with “what if”. Power and its return to you is what will override the fear/phobia.
Some people do have a fear/phobia associated with the dead and Halloween can provoke that fear. But more often than not, the fear can be associated with the fear of one’s own mortality or perhaps the death of a grandparent when very young and the whole death experience not being explained properly. Hypnosis can help you accept that although death is an accepted part of our existence, it does not need to define you or give you worry.
If fears and phobias are holding you back why not consider hypnosis and NLP to overcome and achieve balance and control.
Zita Stanley is hypnotherapist/psychotherapist practicing in Dublin and Portlaoise, Co. Laois, Ireland. She has appeared on RTE (Irish television) and has appeared in newspapers and magazines. www.ZitaStanley.com. Zita@zitastanley.com
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