The Vikings are said to have been so successful on raids because they were not afraid of death. If the Vikings died in battle, they went straight to Valhalla. (And it must have been really nice there, because there was mead…)
The Vikings had nothing to lose: Either they won the battle and emerged victorious or they died in the battle and were taken to Valhalla by the Valkyries. So they could easily live according to the motto FACE YOUR FEARS – they could only win!
Fear
Fear starts in the head
We all know fear. Some more, some less.
There are many different kinds of fears. But every fear has the same reason. The fear for our own existence. The fear of losing control.
There is nothing wrong with fear itself. It keeps us alive because it makes us become especially careful and attentive or prevents us from exposing ourselves to injurious dangers.
It only becomes stupid when fear starts to dominate us. When we feel physical and psychological effects that do not protect us but harm us.
Fear starts in the head … or in the plane
That was how I felt. After many years without air travel I had chosen Helsinki as my holiday destination. Already at the airport in Frankfurt my feel-good factor was pretty much in the basement.
In the airplane it became then completely terrible. My heart was racing, sweating and dizziness came up. I was firmly convinced that the plane was about to fall.
Fear starts in the head… or at a Heavy Metal concert
Fears can also arise at a metal concert – and that even without corpse paint.
Basically my English is quite passable. I have already talked to many people in English. It always took me some effort (and several beers), because I like to do everything perfectly and my English is unfortunately not really perfect.
And then there was an experience that made me fall silent. I bought a CD from a very good looking guy who was selling the merchandise. Of course I had thought about what I wanted to say before. I want it to be perfect. Obviously, the guy thought also I was good-looking, because he wanted to start a conversation with me. But I could not think or answer clearly anymore and told complete bullshit. What an embarrassing situation…
From then on it was over with the English conversation. It did not matter if my counterpart was good-looking or not.
Fear stops in the head
But what do you do now with your fears? After all, you want to get rid of them.
To get rid of your fear means to recognize it, to accept it and to confront it. To confront it with acceptance.
“Only those who can feel fear can show courage.”
Dalai Lama
Fear stops in the head … or in the reptilium
Besides my fear of flying and English speaking, I had a third fear: Arachnophobia.
It is really quite annoying to get someone for every little spider to take the animal outside. Therefore I decided to cure myself here. And it worked out really well. In the Reptilium in Landau you can let tarantulas crawl over your hand.
It really took me a lot of overcoming. But actually it was quite cute, the tarantula. It also felt a bit like a mini cat’s paw. So it really felt good. And since then, I have been able to get the spiders out of the apartment myself. At least the ones that are smaller than tarantulas.
But there remained my two other fears: the fear of flying and the fear of speaking English.
I was able to get both under control with hynosis.
Fear stops in the mind … during hypnosis
I am lucky to have a friend who works with therapeutic hypnosis. Standing with her on concerts front of stage is always very interesting, because she seems to hypnotize the guitarists as well and so she has already come to the one or other plectrum.
Therefore I went into her care. And it was incredible. One hypnosis session shortly before the next flight was enough to make my fear of flying disappear. Completely relaxed I could reach my destination and also the flight home was no problem.
After the hypnosis also the speaking of English worked well (in principle). On another trip I had wonderful conversations, starting with the taxi driver and ending up with various concert acquaintances.
Only with the good looking guy who was selling the CD, with whom I still have my problems…
Face everything an rise
Facing everything courageously and rising from it stronger – that is how we should do it. Overcome all fears, face all things.
However, we should also not be afraid to accept professional help if we cannot do it on our own.
If you want to be hypnotized and you live in Southern Germany, I can highly recommend P.S. Denk an dich.
And now FACE YOUR FEARS! Whether alone or with professional help – it is like the Vikings: IN THE END YOU CAN ONLY WIN!
