Fear busters: Five for five

(Photo by D Sharon Pruitt)

Let's say that you're deathly (wrong word, perhaps) afraid of flying (with or without a plane).  Now let's say that your parent, who lives a thousand miles away, needs your presence immediately.  What to do?

The time to discern this is not while the last-minute flight that you booked is rolling down the runway.  No - the time to discern this is now.  For whether life hands you a lemon (and you're allergic) or a 747, there are certain techniques that can offset the fear which accompanies such occurrences.

That is why MSN Living recently asked:  Want to expand your horizons, be a braver person and enjoy life to the fullest?  For those who muttered a timid "Yes, but…" – here is the first of "five for five" soothing recommendations:  Tell yourself a story.  Hopefully one with a happy ending…  In any event, MSN contends that talking about a frightening event in the third person - as if it were happening to someone else - takes some of the steam out of the kettle.  Example:  "This engineering marvel of a plane is about to defy

gravity.  In a mere two hours, its occupants will be hugging their loved ones down south."

Recommendations two through five:  Breathe from your belly (for those anatomical sticklers, actually from your diaphragm – inhalation four counts, exhalation four counts…); Clench and release (otherwise known as "progressive muscle relaxation" – systematically clench/release muscle groups beginning from the feet up); Admit your fear out loud (as easy as turning to the stranger in the next seat and saying "That last bumpety-bump really had me going…"); and Tweak your P.O.V. and your vocabulary (finding the joy within the dread can be as simple as noticing – then describing to yourself - the glorious vista that is yours to behold from the window seat).

Resources

http://living.msn.com/life-inspired/inspire-me/5-ways-to-overcome-your-fears

Copyright January 31, 2013 by Linda Van Slyke   All Rights Reserved