5 Tips to Unhook from Fear

Coaching clients deal with their fear challenges comes up all the time as their number one hurdle when making change. Here are five tips I recommend to clients (and have personally integrated into my life). You may recognize many of them. Reminders can be a great thing because it is so easy to forget what we know! And, if you don’t use the tools you have when you need them….well, that’s a whole other topic! 1. Practice daily gratitude. Expressing and feeling gratitude generates joyful thoughts and positive emotions. Fear focus on the glass half empty. Gratitude celebrates the glass half full. Recognizing your daily blessings, big and small, evokes peace and lifts the spirit. To play with some wonderful gratitude exercises I wrote about months ago, click here on this link: http://www.powerfull-living.biz/blog/category/spirituality/page/3/ 2. BREATHE! Taking several slow deep breaths will slow down rapid heartbeats and bring relief to anxiety. In Eckhart Tolle’s book, A New Earth - Awakening To Your Life’s Purpose, he suggests taking breaths to interrupt thought. He says you cannot breathe and think at the same time. I have found that the conversations we have in our heads (our self-talk) are a source of intensifying fear. The next time you become aware of your fearful or negative thoughts, take some deliberate breaths! 3. Come back to the present! Where is your attention? Focusing on the future? So often, our thoughts revolve around all the stories and dramas we make up in our head about our lives. We imagine worse case scenarios, what if’s, and spin tales that skew perspective. If there is real danger, your response is valid. So, look around and rejoin the present. It’s what’s happening NOW. 4. Your mind is not necessarily your friend! Become the observer of your self-talk. Are the words you are telling yourself true? Productive? Are your words speaking what you mean to say or are you repeating statements out of unconscious habit? Begin to challenge the inaccuracies of your self-talk with facts and statements that are true. Look for evidence in your personal history of successes to back yourself up with more positive thoughts. And, pay attention to prioritizing personal time to have fun, re-energize, and fulfill your needs. Negative thoughts, irritability, and reactions intensify when people are overextended and depleted. Remember, you’re the author of your own story. What stories are you creating today, moment to moment? How's that working for you? 5. Cultivate a spiritual relationship. Deepening your inner spiritual connection with God, Higher Power, Buddha - whatever you believe, will strengthen your confidence, faith and trust in the face (and illusion) of fear. In my own journey through fear, my spirituality has been one of the most powerfull ways I have unhooked from fear. Today there is a wealth of information and resources for anyone seeking spiritual growth and enlightenment. Want some additional help? Grab my Fear program at http://www.powerfull-living.biz/audio.shtml for tips and strategies to help you transform your fear into POWER you can use to change your life! n