The best way to sap your life force is to be constantly overflowing with fear-based emotions. After all, nothing is more draining than being in a state of panic, overreaction, or fearfulness. We tend to get stuck in this negative place, trying to numb, deny, or otherwise resist our fears.
What if you could overcome this fearful resistance and instead learn to appreciate what the situation or circumstance has helped you learn, see, or discover?
You CAN Overcome Fear-Based Emotions!
You don’t need to spend hours in meditation or doing yoga to start transforming fear. In fact, in 12 minutes or less, you can create an emotional shift, moving from resistance to appreciation. During this exercise, you consent to temporarily feeling and engaging with the hard thing; while it is part of the journey, you won’t want to stay there!
The full power of gratitude and appreciation are at the heart of truly transforming and allowing yourself to overcome fear-based emotions and experiences.
(To download this image as a PDF, go to https://smarttribesinstitute.com/maneuvers-of-consciousness-shift-resistance/)
Overcome Fear-Based Emotions in 12 Minutes or Less
First, think of something you are resisting. To clarify, pick something meaty, like:
- painful beliefs
- belittling, angry, or unpleasant people
- situations you really don’t want in your life
Be sure to have your Emotion Wheel and a timer handy, because you’ll be doing four segments of three minutes each.
(To download this image as a PDF, go to https://smarttribesinstitute.com/emotional-wheel/
Process to Overcome Fear
Negative Evaluation State
Set the timer for three minutes.
During those three minutes, say out loud all the things you don’t like about what you’re resisting:
● What’s bad about it?
● What can’t you stand about it?
● How painful is it?
● How does it make you feel?
● Why is it so wrong?
Go all out on this exercise. After the three minutes are up, look at the Emotion Wheel. What are the key negative emotions you experienced?
To break your meditative state, gently shake your body, or count backwards from 10 to 1 out loud.
Curiosity State
Set the timer for three minutes.
Now get very curious about this situation:
● How did it come to be?
● What is interesting about it?
● Is there anything familiar about it?
● What good things come from it?
Once the three minutes are up, look at the Emotion Wheel and identify your key emotions from this state.
To break your meditative state, gently shake your body, or count backwards from 10 to 1 out loud.
Amazement State
Set the timer for three minutes.
Next, actively become amazed that this situation ever came to be. Try thought patterns like:
● Wow, this is fascinating because...
● What’s amazing about it?
● How do you feel about it?
At the end of three minutes, look at the Emotion Wheel and identify the key emotions you noticed in this state.
In order to break your meditative state, gently shake your body, or count backwards from 10 to 1 out loud.
Full Appreciation State
Set the timer for three minutes.
Ahhhh...deep breath. Honor everything about this situation:
● Yes! This has been so very helpful in bringing me to the next level. Wow.
● I have so much gratitude and appreciation for this, because...
● How do you feel about it as you’re honoring it?
When the three minutes are up, look at the Emotion Wheel. Identify the key emotions you noticed in this state of appreciation.
Then, to break your meditative state, gently shake your body, or count backwards from 10 to 1 out loud.
Your 12 minutes are up! How are you feeling? Has your level of fear decreased? Did you identify areas of fear, stress, or tension that you weren’t previously aware of?
As you can see, this process is designed to help release resistance, enhance our awareness of the choices we have, and increase our ability to be productive. And it’s all done by accepting our reality and overcoming fear-based emotions.
Most importantly, hanging on to resentment and resistance blocks our ability to do all of those things. The faster we can let go and move into the state of consent, the more quickly we’ll be able to dial in to what really matters.
The author of this article - Christine Comaford - is a leadership and culture coach who helps businesses achieve growth. Learn more at SmartTribes Institute.
