Monday, September 8, 2008

Releasing Fear and Enabling Effective Action

Many exciting opportunities and directions are developing with my work at the moment. Along with all the great things happening come some extremely intense reactions to DOING some of the actual steps I need to take to get all this happening. A lot of resistance and fear comes up. I keep letting it go and have taken some significant steps.

I have a major event scheduled for early October (read about it here). I was getting really terrified about being ready for the conference, so I did this exercise about fear.

Shortcut for Letting go of Fear Exercise
Ask yourself, when you feel afraid :

What is it I don't want to have happen?
Write down your first thought.
Welcome the feelings, the sensations in the body, the pictures and sounds (and thoughts are just sounds and pictures) that come up with that response.
Now ask: Could I let go of wanting that to happen?

This oddball question tends to bring about a release easily! Just keep doing it over and over until you feel as much relief from the fear as you would like.

This exercise comes from the understanding that whenever we're afraid we are focusing on what we don't want to have happen, and one part of us wants that to happen! When we let go fo that irrational 'want', we are freer and able to act.

Outstanding Results from The Letting Go of Fear Release
I did this exercise for a while this morning when I woke feeling really full of dread about the conference presentation. I listed in my mind the things I don't want to have happen, one by one and let them go, as described above.

One of these was that I don't want to find myself not well prepared and just winging it - doing an OK job but not the way I envisioned it, and losing the opportunity to make an impact and get these ideas really out there. I thought about how I want the talk to have powerful stories and images - and I get scared that I can't do that. What I didn't want to have happen is that I don't have well prepared and engaging stories. I let that fear go, let go of 'wanting that to happen'. Immediately, I remembered the class I am going to tonight which is an "Acting Class" (with skills for presentations in mind) at which we were to present a piece that we had practiced - using a special imaging and memory process to make it very engaging and memorable. I recalled that it was to prepare this presentation that I joined the class! I remembered that I intended to write my own story and present that.

A story came back to me and so I got up at 5.30 and and wrote it with ease and will present it tonight! I'm very pleased and intend to get up early to write every morning this week so I get all the pieces I need for my first practice talk next Monday properly prepared. It's feeling much more doable now. Because I released the fear I was able to take the action I needed to take. My whole week started so well as a result of that early morning releasing practice.

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