Fear

by Donald Pelles, Ph.D., Certified Hypnotherapist

 

Fear is an emotion

There is no such thing as “rational fear”.

 

We may recognize the possibility or even the probability of danger, a threat, of something bad happening: an economic downtown, a war, a loss in an election, a disease or condition, the breakup of a relationship, the loss of a home or a job. We may avoid certain situations, places, or activities because of the real possibility of harm.

But that assessment is not, in itself, fear. The emotion of fear may accompany any these recognitions, but this is distinct from the recognition itself. That recognition can be planned for, studied, and analyzed, and plans can be made to prevent it, avoid it, divert it, lessen the impact, or if none of these is possible, to recover from it afterwards.

 

But fear – the emotion – distorts, subverts, even paralyzes these measures.

 

Fear is the unconscious underpinning of phobias, anxieties, depression, worry, jealousy. It can cause us to react blindly, without rational judgment; to make bad decisions; to panic; to avoid certain situations or people; or to freeze and do nothing, ignoring an issue until that is no longer possible.

 

We may try our best to push through the fear, to resolve the issue in spite of feeling afraid. Sometimes we call this courage.

 

Resolving Fear

To truly resolve fear, we must work on the unconscious level.

 

Attempts to “reason away” fear generally fail. “There is no monster under the bed.” “You’re not going to drive off that bridge – it’s just another road.” “Planes are much safer than cars.” “It’s probably just a sore throat.”

 

Sometime it is possible to resolve a fear through experience. We may be afraid of being in water, but with gentle support and by becoming a swimmer, we learn on both the conscious and unconscious levels that water, even deep water, can be safe and enjoyable. (It is also possible, once the fear is gone, to forget the rational measures to keep you safe.) Repeated experience is the basis of the desensitization method of overcoming fears: you go through, or imagine going through, a series of experiences that bring you closer and closer to what you used to fear.

 

Core Transformation

Core Transformation, developed in the late 1980s by NLP publisher and trainer Connirae Andreas, addresses unconscious parts or aspects of the person that are behind the fear emotion and the associated feelings and behaviors. These parts came into being, usually, when the person was much younger, often as responses, even solutions, to things that were going on at the time. They may even have been useful back then, but they split off and remain “frozen”, continuing to repeat the same thinking, feelings, and behaviors, long after these are useful (if they ever were), while the person as a whole continues to grow and develop. So that a four-year-old, say (a part that split off when the person was four), continues to be in charge of whole aspects of the person’s life, far into adulthood.

 

Core Transformation works by discovering the part’s core state – a high-level existential and spiritual state of being that is what the part ultimately seeks (some examples are peace, love, oneness, ok-ness, god-ness) – and then utilizing that core state to transform the part, grow it up and heal that split that happened so long ago, and then to transform the person.

 

In this way, Core Transformation effectively resolves the fear on the unconscious, emotional level.

 

Wholeness Work

Wholeness Work, developed much later by Connirae Andreas, works in a different way to resolve fear (and other emotions as well). As the person reviews the feeling (“Go back to when you were afraid …”), we ask, “Where do you feel it?” From that point on, we work with physical feelings – sensations – in, and sometimes outside of, the body, and the physical sensations of perceiving those feelings.

 

The resolution comes about through integrating, merging, these sensations with Awareness, conceptualized as a vast unbounded field of potential perception and experiencing, that exists all around and within the person. Typical responses after going through the process are “That doesn’t bother me anymore”, “The fear is gone!”, “It’s all alright.” The transformations seem truly miraculous, and they tend to be permanent.

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References:

My blog, “With Wholeness NLP has come full circle”:

My blog, “Wholeness”

Audio: “Core Transformation with Catherine, Session 1”

Video: “Core Transformation with Catherine, Session 2”

Book, Core Transformation: Reaching the Wellspring Within: Connirae Andreas and Tamara Andreas

Book, Coming to Wholeness: How to Awaken and Live with Ease, Connirae Andreas:

Book, The Wholeness Work Essential Guide – Level 1: Healing & Awakening, Connirae Andreas: