Forget Everything and Run
From the news, internet, social Media, our televisions to our Political Conversations, present Civil Wars across countries, Environmental Destruction, Nuclear War Threats, Biological Disasters with the addition of Historical and Religious Predictions and Astrological Timing, we are overwhelmed, flooded with messages of fear. Today, Humans feel more afraid of the world and our neighbors more than they have in decades. Though, this fear is not good for us. In fact, according to Neuroscientist, such as; Kerry Ressler, Kay M Tye, Joseph E. Le Doux and among others; “Fear is Killing Us.”
What is Fear?
According to Catherine M Pittman, MD; Fear is a chain reaction in the brain. It begins when faced with a terrifying stimulus, such as a Bear, A Shark, A kidnapper, A murderer, Jumping from high Places, an Insecurity, War, Phobias, Darkness, Isolation, etc. Your body prepares itself to protect from danger. If a knife is pressed to your throat, a wolf crosses your path, or simply you hear a creak or window open in your home, you experience a reaction to the response. The Adrenal Glands release hormones; Cortisol and NorAdrenaline, Adrenaline, in which cause you to feel panic, anxiety, your heart will race, your muscles will tense up, temperature will rise, and breath will quicken. Your body experiences Fight-or-Flight mode, you are ready to do anything and everything you need to keep your self safe.
The entire reaction begins in the Thalamus, which receives signals from the body’s senses. There are two different paths the reaction can go; The least rational, in which is the quickest response to life threatening situations; such as being threatened by a serial killer, or being attacked by a wolf. Your Thalamus will alert the amygdala, in which will trigger emotional responses to your hypothalamus, signaling the adrenal glands to rush hormones; Adrenaline and Cortisol into the blood, so you run away from danger.
The second path, in which is the most Rational response, and the slowest, happens if the situation is not life threatening. Thus, when you see something that is scary, frightening, but you are not in immediate danger, such a spider on your wall, or seeing something terrible on the news, your amygdala, will send a signal to the pre frontal and/ or sensory cortex, in which will alert the hippocampus for comparison to past threats in your memory center. If it realizes that the frightening stimulus is not life threatening, your senses are heightened to a superhuman degree in which triggers fight or flight.
These responses are helpful, although the speed and complexity of it can be detrimental to our nervous system, and thus our whole body health. According to Medical Doctor, Lissa Rankin, “Fear predisposes you to illness and makes recovery difficult.”
The brain stores the details of that particular stimulus – smell, taste, sound, visuals, time, place etc, in your long term memory. Thus, when a similar stimulus shows up, your body responds the same way, known as “fear conditioning”. These things have an effect on your memory as well as your body. It can weaken your health, causing you to constantly feel anxiety, depression, insomnia, fatigue, etc. This of course accelerates ageing and even premature death.
If you are someone with Chronic fear, The world always looks scary, and the memories are always there to confirm this. Fear can interrupt many processes in our brain that allows us to read nonverbal cues and information presented to us; such as reflecting before acting, regulating our emotions, and acting ethically. Fear impacts our thinking and decision-making in negative ways, because we view from a negative perspective by thinking events will go wrong. This can lead us to being susceptible to more aggressive emotions and impulsive reactions.
Face Everything and Rise
“Love, faith, and pleasure are preventative medicine and highly effective treatment.” – Medical Doctor, Lissa Rankin
Constantly, being filled with messages of fear, can cause negative reactions to your body and psyche. Although, you don’t have to accept them. You can train your body, your mind and yes even your spirit, and beat fear.
When your body relaxes, the sympathetic nervous system completely shuts off. The hormones in which damage the body; cortisol and adrenaline, drop and stop being released into the bloodstream. This is where the parasympathetic nervous system takes over, and the immune system flips back on, so that the body can continue its natural self repairing process. Your mind, indeed can heal your body. “This is not some New Age Spiritual Metaphysical Thing, Its Simple Physiology 🙂 “
You can train your self to think positive, and switch your mind from Fear based, to Love based.
“Between stimulus and response, there is space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom” – Victor E. Frankl
To overcome fear, and a particular memory associated with is called “Fear Extinction”. This involves creating a new response to a the fear stimuli. Meaning, making positive connections to the thing that scared the S%&T out of you. For example: If you see a spider on the beautiful canvas wall in your home, and you start looking at that canvas wall without the spider on it every day, your fear response can be rewritten. Choosing to see the positive in that memory as opposed to the negative in which scared you (in this case the spider), and caused you fear. The Amygdala associates the memory with the freezing response, training it to be associated with something less horrifying than the spider.
When the amygdala rewrites your memory, you are free of fear. You control your response to fear, the fear does not control you. This can also be known as Self-Efficacy.
“Self-efficacy is the belief in one’s ability to influence events that effect one’s life and control over the way these events are experienced”. – Psychologist ; (Bandura, 1994).
How to Overcome Fear
1. Waking up and being Aware
Before you can overcome your fear, you need to wake up to what is scaring you. You need to identify it, and become aware of it, to be able to set your self free. It is easy to become attached to your thoughts to a point where you feel they are real, but they are not. You do not identify with your fears, but you can observe them through awareness.
2. Asking the right Questions
Start asking your self, where the fears stem from, and why your thoughts produce these types of fears. How does the fear make you feel, where in your body do you feel it? How are you reacting? Observe your self and what is happening.
3. Being Present
Acknowledge if you are in fact centered. Are you living in the future, of what is to come, but has yet not passed? Or are you in the now, are being. Do you recognize where you are and what you have in this very moment. Most fears are produced by time traveling through our mind to the “What ifs” and “how’s”.
4. Journaling
It is important to release and express your fears and emotions on paper. Writing down what is happening in your mind and how this fear makes you feel, allows you to see the situation from an objective perspective, not to mention if its rational or not. It also allows you to release the thoughts instead of them circling in your mind and affecting your body as a whole.
5. Self care
Doing activities that are good for your body mind and soul, will help you relax and turn off the center in your brain that causes the fear. Eating healthy nutritious food, stretching your body, exercising, doing house chores, reading a good book, taking a nice bath, getting 8 hours of sleep a night and talking to your loved ones. This will not only feed your body with positivism, you will boost your immune system and physiological positive responses.
6. Meditation and Breath-work
The way we breathe impacts our stress levels, thus focusing on letting go of what we cannot control, and putting your self in a relaxation state, breathing slowly and with awareness, allows your body, mind and spirit to relax, be at the moment and let go of all attachments that keep you from feeling peace and contentment.
7. Gratitude
Write down three to five things that you are grateful for. By recognizing the blessings and the beautiful gifts that you have in your life, seeing that you are in fact abundant. Recognizing the friends, the family, clothes, water, food, love and laughter in which you have in your life, will really help put events into perspective. You will recognize that you are not alone, and you will be more inclined to be in the now, present, and being.
Rozlia…..
