What is fear? According to science, fear is the natural response to something that we feel threatens our livelihood. It jolts us physically, thus initiating a chain reaction in the brain.
Have you ever seen something frightening and immediately, your heart thumps in your chest and you feel the need to get to safety? In your brain, a stressful stimulus has caused a release of chemicals that make your heart race, breathe fast, and adrenaline spike.
Of course, if humans weren’t capable of fear, we wouldn’t be able to survive. Fear assists us in making critical decisions that keep us alive.
But there is also the human fear that isn’t as reactionary. It’s the fear we all know, the fear we carry from childhood, through adolescence, and even into adulthood. It’s the what holds us back from being our best self. I’m not talking about paranoias like fear of spiders or heights, but deeply held anxieties about relationships, careers, and health. This fear is different for everyone, yet many of us simply let our fear control us.
We all live with fear. Once you learn to control it, you will be on the way to living a fulfilled life.
1. Breathe
Once you realize your fears are an aspect of your imagination, your body can start to physically control your emotions.
How can you breathing help you overcome fear and stress? There is a practice known as the square pattern method that has helped many breathe through anxiety-inducing situations.
First, inhale deeply. Imagine your breathe is becoming a straight line.Then, count to two, imaging that line has hit a corner. Exhale in this corner. You have hit the second line in the square. Pause. Inhale deeply, count to two on a straight line, and then exhale once you hit the second corner. Continue through the square, until you feel relaxed.
2. Reevaluate your perspective
When you feel worried about a particular situation, this prompts a physical response. Maybe you talk quieter or quicker. Maybe you nervously wring your hands together. This all began with one simple feeling: fear.
Changing your relationship with fear demands you to change how you perceive your environment. Everyone’s perception of events is different.The way we view a situation then determines our thoughts about what has occurred, and that in turn creates our emotions.
Why do situations seem out of our control? It all comes back to what we experienced growing up. The social conditioning we are subjected to as individuals shape our current beliefs and apprehensions. Perception is unique to each person, and once you realize this you can stop reacting to what is going on outside of yourself and look for answers within.
Your energy is always communicating with you. By quieting fears exacerbated by external forces you will better understand your emotions better engaged in the conversation with your own energy.
