Fear is Debilitating!
Laughter Yoga and other ways to help you get over fear, may be useful to consider and ponder, as fear is far too prevalent in today’s age and we are surrounded by it all the time.
There is so much fear in the world, it is impossible not to be affected by it and yet, you can live a life feeling joy and closer to nature. Let me tell you a little of how you can do so. Any advice shared here is intended to be thought provoking, enabling you to consider, feel into, ponder upon, implement and/or reach out to professionals if needs be. It may be the beginning of an area or time in your life which is timely for you to look after yourself, because we are unable to help others if we are not strong, which means we first have to attend to our own basic and healthful needs.
Danger is real, not imaginary. Look at the news on television. Many people refuse to watch it and I wouldn’t either, excepting John, my husband feels it helps him to stay in touch with what is going on in the world. It would be fantastic if good news stories were prevalent, instead of the shock and horror ones that are aired every night on the free to air channels. Apparently bad news sells and is more popular than positive uplifting stories.
I do enjoy watching some shows on TV, the animal and nature ones which are uplifting, entertaining and informative. But you probably agree, TV like social media, can take a hold on us and not let go. They are such time wasters and bad habits are formed, we get lazy, become couch potatoes, sit too long and it’s very unhealthy to spend an inordinate amount of time watching too much television and spending too much precious time checking our social media apps on our phone, computer or tablet.
The world is somehow geared towards us being and living fearfully. Which can be disastrous, where it is like the metaphor of a frog in a pot, whereby the water slowly comes to the boil, it is boiled to death, because of not noticing the temperature slowly rising.
That must be the reason why people hang out for their holidays and do activities to make them forget the world as it is, and provide relief from stressfully lived lives. Our challenges feel so difficult, when history tells us that there have always been seemingly insurmountable difficulties, appropriate for the age we live in. Difficulties, challenges and the like evolve and change according to the times and places.
Have you heard of or considered that our thoughts are not even original, as we are connected energetically with other people and things, which you may not even be aware of? People can come up with the same ideas and be travelling along the same path as others, following their inner guidance, and thoughts are little energy forms that zoom out from us.
Enneagrams are something that I have heard about, have a general idea of, enough to be helpful for me at present. Some people reading this may be experts in this area. What I feel to express here is that basically, human beings are animals, more evolved and with more on board of course.
We are creatures of habit, and I often write about patterning and conditioning which we take on throughout our lives and about releasing it, creating new positive, supportive patterns and habits, ditching ones that no longer serve us in our life where we are now.
Fear Related to Enneagrams
My understanding of enneagrams is how we behave automatically, in a protective way, which is more limited. When a traumatic set of circumstances has happened and something ‘bad’ happens in our life, the set of circumstances are recorded in our subconscious mind. If that set of circumstances happens again, we unconsciously expect the same result and react out of irrational fear. Even though intellectually we know there is no need to be fearful, think of the example of people who have massive fear around spiders, snakes, rats, or whatever. They may believe the person helping them to overcome the fear and it takes great courage to work through the subconscious, irrational fear they are facing and are able to transform it into a correct understanding of the situation, removing the ingrained fear.
Would you agree with this so far? What we need to do is create a future where we are living in more awareness, grounded in our body, connected to earth, nature and consciously able to hum away at living a productive life, irrespective of our life situation. If needs be, seek out a professional if the fear is debilitating, stopping you from living a fruitful life.
Realistically, fear and danger are real, we can benefit by having a respectful awareness of these two gremlins in our life, instead of avoiding or supressing these feelings. Fear can be a great motivator to learn to deal with and overcome it. A certain amount of stress and fear is normal, when we are being stretched, possibility having self doubt from our feelings of being unworthy. It is normal to have fears and challenges to work through and overcome; fear can make us give up, give in and not make any effort at all. Hold strong and don’t give up, never ever! There is always hope. It is not lost, maybe we’ve simply mislaid it along the way.
A healthy habit is to face our fears, which may be irrational and tied in with feelings of low self-worth, not wanting to fail etc. we can develop a good habit of facing fears, let us call them a common term, challenges and using that as a positive experience to develop self mastery in our lives. Yee hah!
Facing Fears
1st step – improve your self-talk and use affirmations.
It is important to face our fears, using positive self talk, such as ‘it’s unlikely to happen’, ‘I can do this’, ‘I am safe’. Basically, learn to switch things around, when you are able to understand and see that your outlook is irrational and apply yourself to lovingly, caringly, get out of your comfort zone (obviously without doing dangerous, unwise activities, using common sense) and try new things.
From my recent experience, I managed to overcome and clear an old fear, which was instilled in me following a bad car accident many years ago.
The fear was underneath my radar, I wasn’t questioning it, feeling nervous in a car on the road seemed normal and acceptable. This was both with my husband driving and when I was driving. Learning more about enneagrams, I started to positive talk myself ‘an accident is unlikely to happen’ being the main one and choosing to let go of being fearful of driving or being driven. I would also affirm to myself ‘I am safe’. It happened recently when my husband was in hospital for two nights after an operation and then unable to drive for 4 weeks. It seemed like a good time to get over my fearful self and switch things around, which was very quick in fact. I was surprised. I am now back to being a confident driver and not wimpish. They say be careful of what you wish for, and it was time to change the unconscious belief of being afraid of having an accident. It’s great! I am loving driving now again.
2nd step – be quick to act on inspirations
Especially if you know in your heart, have a feeling about, doing a new activity, whereby the feeling comes to you for a split second and then your rational mind steps in, persuading, thinking your way out of it in another direction. I imagine some of you lovely readers will get this. You have a feeling and if the inspiration is not acted upon straight away, the feeling becomes dulled and you have talked your way out of doing that thing which initially seemed like such a good idea. The negative ego is chit chatting with you and it’s purpose is to run the body, which it does amazingly well and keep you safe.
3rd step – come to laughter club
Give this a go, you will be stepping out of your comfort zone into an unfamiliar territory. This is a ‘good thing’. New people come from time to time and I encourage them to come at least two or three times, before deciding it is not for them. I am not alone in suggesting that you will not know if it will be a very positive and beneficial activity in your life, without coming more than once. Fair enough, people may know immediately it is not for them. Many people find it very uncomfortable, which is their body type/personality, set in their ways and very likely, inhibitions or deep-set fear such as unconscious trauma, may be at play here. Given time, people become confident, relaxed and embrace the light-hearted fun way that laughter clubs are renowned for.
For instance, we don’t always know what is good for us. I once was leading laughter at a nursing home and it was obvious that the people who were low care, joined in and appeared to be uplifted. It felt like a mistake that the activities organiser asked the residents if it was an activity they enjoyed, instead of seeing the bigger picture that in time, the magic works when people come together, laugh and sing. They did not give it a fair trial, which would have far benefited the residents in the long run. I am suggesting if you have resistance to coming along, look at the bigger picture. There are so many gains to be had from it.
Laughter yoga is an aerobic exercise with innumerable benefits. It isn’t for everyone and you will not have a clear understanding of it being ‘right’ for you, without attending a few times. And it’s free too! We go along to the Ferntree Gully and Boronia Libraries and the laughter club meets twice a month behind the Ferntree Gully Library.
4th Step – We are all in this together
Human Beings are creatures of habit and beneath our seemingly distant exteriors, hide ones who are genuinely kind and helpful towards each other. We have a need to belong, as we are mostly like animals who feel comfortable gathering together in packs, or tribes. A sense of belonging, which helps us feel happy and at peace, coming together and sharing with other like-minded people. It gives us more purpose in our life.
Essentially, and summing up, laughter yoga is a great physical exercise which makes us feel better. Our communication and listening skills improve. We become light-hearted. It is a rich experience. Everyone benefits. Yet again, I encourage and invite you to come to a laughter session in the park, or inside the Ferntree Gully or Boronia Libraries. It is never too late, and people have taken fifteen years or longer to do just that!
Please think about it. Come along and satisfy your human by interacting with other human beings.
Alternatively, if you do not have a social life, think about, feel into and enquire about, what would be a suitable group for you to be a part of. There are many in the community and the Knox Council is brilliant at supporting its residents. We love being in Knox. From what I see, all councils have the wellbeing of their residents at heart as well. Look after yourself. Get moving, grooving, do something you love and remember firstly, to love yourself. Warts and all!
When we meet
The Ferntree Gully Laughter Club meets at 11am on the 2nd & 4th Sunday of the month.
We are at the Ferntree Gully Library 2pm on the 4th Tuesday of the month and the Boronia Library 11am the 3rd Saturday of the month, excepting June will be the 1st one on 7th June.
First timers, please contact me, Lynette in case of a meeting change. The Ferntree Gully Laughter Club may not run on 22nd June though, because I will be in Perth.
Let me know if you wish to receive an email newsletter and a reminder email for the laughter club or wish to join the Facebook group.
Cheerio for now and be kind to yourself. A strong mantra that I use and hold in my awareness on a daily basis is ‘Patience, Tolerance, Kindness’. Try it for yourself and let me know how it works for you, or whether you need more assistance and guidance in using it, such as combining with one’s own breath.
Lots of Love and Laughter. Lynette Mitchell.
Phone: 0425 799 258
Email: lynette@laughterforliving.com.au
Website: www.laughterforliving.com.au