Just like Eddie in Hagar, we all have those scary moments in life. I am amazed at how often it’s not OK to acknowledge what we are feeling. Sometimes, merely acknowledging the fear or other emotion is all we need to do to move beyond it.
We sometimes get stuck in our fear and do not move beyond it – we stay in it. Sometimes we do not recognize the fear and other times it seems that it is not OK to be fearful. I think that we forget that somethings are just scary! Whether it’s literally being on the edge of a cliff or are applying for a new job, asking someone out for a date or taking an exam at school – these can be frightening events.
When I lived on Maui I went a counselor who took me in the rain forest to a mountain stream with a big swimming hole. We climbed up on some rocks about 25 feet above the water on a narrow ledge. He then began asking me about my fear of resigning the job that I had, packing my family up and moving back to the mainland so that I could attend graduate school. Not only were my knees shaking at being on the ledge – but when this jump became about making a decision – my knees began knocking together. I was scared!
Finally, I stepped out into the air – there is a moment of suspension, then the seemingly slow motion fall into the water. The cold mountain rain water completely enveloped me and when my head popped out of the water every cell of my body radiated life. I can’t ever remember feeling more alive!
I tell this story to my clients and I frequently remind myself when I realize that I am stuck on a ledge. When I am stuck on the ledge, afraid to step into life, I use self-hypnosis and imagine that I am back in the Maui rain forest. I imagine stepping into my fear and my imagine my head popping out of the water and that amazing feeling of being alive. Then using the hypnosis, I create the image of successfully completing whatever it is that had me on the ledge. Hypnotherapy provides me a way of moving through my fear and successfully completing my goal.
