How To Overcome Your Fear

What’s it All About?

Fear is one of the most powerful emotions you can experience. If allowed to, it can quickly take over your life by restricting you from enjoying certain experiences/situations.

Maintaining a positive mindset means that you approach situations in a different frame of mind, giving yourself a head-start when it comes to overcoming fears.

Fear Response

The body’s natural response to fear is to engage what is known as the fight or flight response. This is a primitive, automatic, inborn response that prepares the body to fight or flee from potential harm or threat to our survival.

This response corresponds to an area of the brain called the hypothalamus which, when stimulated, initiates the release of chemicals, such as adrenaline, noradrenaline, and cortisol into the bloodstream.

The feelings associated with this are closely related to the symptoms experienced during a panic attack.

What can I do?

It can be very frightening when you feel like you are losing control over your situation and composure.

If you have ever experienced a full-blown panic attack or the intensely distressing symptoms that precede a panic attack, then you will know just how distressing this is.

The good news is that there are a variety of tools and techniques available that can help you to maintain control and stay calm in situations that previously would have caused you fear.

Achieving an improved state of inner calm will place you in a better position for approaching your specific fear or anxiety. This will enable you to get the very most out of the tools and techniques recommended in the specific Fears pages.

The techniques you will find in this section are aimed at reducing stress levels and helping you achieve an improved state of mental well-being, calmness, and clarity.

This will help you to look and feel happier, healthier, and more confident.

Why Is It Important?

Improving your mental well-being, or core state involves tapping into a deep source of positive energy.

Some of the benefits of this are:

Reduced stress and negative emotions
Improved concentration
Increased energy levels
Greater self-awareness
Deepened connections with others and the world around you

Well-Being Techniques

Mindfulness

Mindfulness is the act of focussing on being in the present. It helps you to experience less stress and anxiety, and to discover more joy and a deeper sense of being in each moment.

Mindfulness and meditation are closely linked; the difference has been widely debated and interpreted and the debate will likely continue. They are two sides of the same coin that complement each other and often overlap. At the same time, each has its own definition and purpose.

In the United Kingdom (UK), mindfulness training is recommended by the UK’s National Institute for Health and Excellence and it is also prescribed by the National Health Service (NHS).

Mindfulness helps you to experience less stress and anxiety, and to discover more joy and a deeper sense of being in each moment.

Meditation

Meditation enables you to make your mind calm and peaceful, allowing you to take charge of your emotions. Meditation offers a solution to stress, worry, anxiety, fear, and frustration.

Meditation is the large umbrella term that encompasses the practice of reaching ultimate consciousness and concentration, to acknowledge the mind, and in some way, regulate it.

Meditation allows you to take charge of your own nervous system and emotions. Research has shown that meditation affects emotional processing in the brain, even when outside of a meditative state.

Meditation offers a solution to daily problems, such as: stress, worry, anxiety, frustration, anger, and fear. People who meditate regularly have an improved sense of well-being; they experience less worry, anxiety, and stress and are more positive and productive.

A regular meditation habit can make you happier, healthier, and more successful than ever!

Brainwave Entrainment

An increasingly popular alternative therapy to stimulate the brain. There are two types: binaural beats and isochronic tones, which can help you to relax, concentrate, fall asleep, or release stress.

Brainwaves can be stimulated by playing a rhythmical sound. When the rhythm is close to the brain’s own brainwave frequencies, the brain responds by synchronizing its brainwaves to the rhythm of the sound. This is called the Frequency Following Response (FFR).

Brainwave entrainment is a fantastic tool for personal development and thousands of people across the world use it to enhance their concentration when studying, to improve the depth of meditation, and to effortlessly induce sleep.

It works because over time the brain will begin to mimic any frequency it is presented with. So, you can induce any state you want at will, providing you know the frequency associated with that state. For example, an alpha state (pleasantly relaxed and calm) is 10 Hz (Hertz); brainwave speed is measured in Hertz, which just means cycles per second. So, to create this state, all you need to do is get the brain to resonate at 10 Hz.

Deep Breathing

The way you breathe affects your whole body. Deep breathing exercises are one of the best ways to relax, release tension, and relieve stress, as well as giving you a greater sense of control.

Your breath is a powerful way to connect with your mind and your heart. It allows you to slow down, take control of your thoughts and emotions, and shift your energy vibration. The deeper you breathe, the more your mind relaxes, allowing you to tap into the power within you.

Your breath does more than give you oxygen. It cleanses you, relaxes you, and energizes you.

Deep breathing is a simple yet powerful relaxation technique that is easy to learn and can be practiced almost anywhere. It is the cornerstone of many other relaxation techniques; it arouses a relaxation response that counteracts the fight or flight response.

It has been shown to have benefits in treating a range of conditions, from migraines and irritable bowel syndrome to anxiety disorders and chronic pain.

Vitamins & Supplements

Even relatively small deficiencies of vitamins and minerals can have an adverse effect on your mental well-being. Getting the balance right can improve your mood, reduce fatigue, and positively impact your mental health.

The saying “you only get out what you put in” is very true for many different scenarios, your health and well-being is just one of them.

There is vast research that indicates that what we eat and drink has a direct effect on our mood, our ability to cope with daily stresses, and our general sense of well-being.

With this in mind, it is important to think carefully when considering the use of any vitamins and/or supplements, as you want to be confident that they contain high-quality ingredients, formulated to the optimum strength level.

Reflection

Spending some time to openly and honestly reflect on your life can help you identify any sources of negativity/stress. This is an important step in being able to move into a better headspace.

Research published in an issue of Perspectives on Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, has found that reflection is critical for development and well-being.

Mindful reflection is essential to our ability to make meaning of the world around us. Inward attention is an important contributor to the development of moral thinking and reasoning and is linked with overall socioemotional well-being.

While there is often an inclination to view ‘mind rest’ as a wasted opportunity for productivity, there is growing support for the theory that constructive internal reflection is critical for learning from past experiences and appreciating their value for future choices, allowing us to better understand and manage ourselves in the social world.