Hypnosis can be a wonderful tool to help get over a phobia or irrational fear but it only works when you are ready for it to work. How do you get ready? Well, that is an interesting question, one I am still trying to work out in my own life.
For starters, examine your fear. Is it a real phobia or just a fear? Phobias prevent you from going places, doing certain things, in short they interfere with your life. If you can honestly say it’s only a fear, well you are one step closer to overcoming it. A fear is generally easy to live with. People have fears all the time about all sorts of things. Someone might have a fear that there will be a school shooting at the school their kids are at (a fear too many of us have these days), however, most of us don’t let it stop us from sending our kids to school.
Phobias prevent us from living a normal life to some degree. It could be avoiding an area where you have seen a snake or taking the backroads because you won’t drive on the highway to any number of other things that disrupt your life in some way. Phobias are always start as fear.
Fears can be rational and irrational. Rational fears include things like worrying about your kids in public places. There is some level of concern that we should all have and this concern helps keep us safe. Rational fears are completely normal and healthy. Irrational fears are things that do not have any merit and serve no real purpose. They can be silly like superstitions or they can lead to phobias.
When thinking logically and rationally about phobias, a lot of time they do seem a bit silly to the person suffering. Take a fear of flying for example. Many people with this phobia can tell you that they know that airplanes are safe, they know that you have a higher risk of getting hurt in a car crash, etc. They can rationally tell you all of this but they are still afraid of flying.
It is always important to try and dissect a fear to help overcome it. A lot of people will find that they can’t pinpoint where the fear started, and that’s okay. It is important to think about the fear now. What is it about the fear that bothers you the most? Are there any parts of it that you are okay with? Write down these thoughts so you can use them to help you later.
Now, think about all the ways your life will be better when you overcome the phobia. Write down everything, including the things that seem small or insignificant. Perhaps you can think of all the time you will save by not driving back roads if you fear highways, perhaps you can enjoy being outside more if you have a fear of snakes, maybe you will stop getting teased if you are afraid of clowns. Whatever it is, write it down.
Next write down the payoff you get for holding onto the phobia. This might take a while but you should be able to come up with something. Some of you payoffs might not even make sense rationally but write them down anyway.
Now compare your lists. Is your payoff list seem better than your taking back your life list? At this point, hypnosis might be able to help you. If you feel like your better list is the way you want to live but you are still holding on, hypnosis can help you get over the hump. However, it is again up to you. If you are still holding on to the phobia, there might be more work you need to do or maybe you need some more time.
After comparing your lists, if you feel that you are completely ready to live the “better life”, hypnosis can help you. You are ready to overcome your phobia! Think about how much happier, more confident and proud you will be once you overcome your fear once and for all. You are only a phone call away from that life.
If you are ready to overcome your phobia or if you would like some help with the earlier steps, contact me today.
