"Do the thing you fear, and the death of fear is certain."
When you affirm positively that you are going to master your fears, and come to a definite decision in your conscious mind that you are going to overcome, you release the power of the subconscious which flows in response to the nature of your thought.
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| overcome fear |
The subconscious mind is amenable to suggestion and controlled by suggestion. When you still your mind and relax, the thoughts of your conscious mind sink down into the subconscious through a process similar to osmosis, whereby fluids separated by a porous membrane intermingle. As these positive seeds or thoughts sink into the subconscious area, they grow after their kind, and you become poised, serene, and calm.
A young lady was invited to an audition. She had been looking for-
reward to the interview. However, on three previous occasions she failed miserably due to stage fright.
Here is the very simple technique which she followed. Remember this young lady had a very good voice, but she was certain when the time came for her to sing that she would be seized with stage- fright. The subconscious mind takes your fears as a request, proceeds to manifest them, and bring them into your experience. On three previous auditions she sang wrong notes and finally broke down. The cause, as previously outlined, was an involuntary auto- suggestion; i.e., a silent fear thought emotionalized and subject- ified.
She overcame it by the following technique. Three times a day she isolated herself in a room. She sat down comfortably in an armchair, relaxed her body, and closed her eyes. She stilled the mind and body as best she could. Physical inertia favors mental passivity, and renders the mind more receptive to suggestion. She counteracted the fear suggestion by its converse, saying to herself, "I sing beautifully, I am poised, serene, confident, and calm." She repeated this statement slowly, quietly, and with feeling from five to ten times at each sitting. She had three such "sittings" every day and one immediately prior to sleep. At the end of a week she was completely poised and confident, and gave a remarkable, wonder- ful audition. Carry out the above procedure with assurance and conviction, and the death of fear is certain.
Occasionally young men from the local university come to see me, and also school teachers, who seem to suffer from suggestive amnesia at examinations. The complaint is always the same— "I know the answers after the examination is over, but I can't remember the answers during the examination."
The idea which realizes itself is the one to which we invariably give concentrated attention. I find that each one is obsessed withthe idea of failure. Fear is behind the temporary amnesia, and is the cause of the whole experience.
One young medical student was the most brilliant in his class; yet he found himself failing to answer simple questions at the time of written or oral examinations. I explained to him that the reason was he had been worrying and fearful for several days previous to the examination, these constant negative thoughts became charged with fear. Thoughts enveloped in the powerful emotion of fear are realized in the subconscious. In other words, this young man was requesting his subconscious mind to see to it that he failed, and that is exactly what it did. On the day of the examination he found himself stricken with what is called in psychological circles "sugg- estive amnesia.
A French psychologist named Baudouin said, "What we have to work for in overcoming fear is education of the imagination."
Here is how the young man overcame his fear. He learned that his subconscious mind was the storehouse of memory, and had a perfect record of all he had heard and read during his medical training. Moreover, he learned that the subconscious mind was responsive and reciprocal; the way to be en-rapport with it was to be relaxed, peaceful, and confident.
Every night and morning he began to imagine his mother congrat- ulating him on his wonderful record. He would hold an imaginary letter from her in his hand and read congratulatory words. He would also feel the letter in his hand. As he began to contemplate the happy result, he called forth a corresponding or reciprocal response or reaction in himself. The all-wise and omnipotent pow- er of the subconscious took over, dictated, and directed his conscious mind accordingly. He imagined the end. When he imagined and felt the end, he willed the means to the realization of the end. Following this procedure he had no trouble passing
subsequent examinations. In other words the subjective wisdom took over compelling him to give an excellent account of himself. The law of the subconscious mind is compulsion.
There are many people who are afraid to go in an elevator, climb mountains, or even swim in the water. It may well be that the individual had unpleasant experiences in the water in his youth, such as having been thrown forcibly into the water without being able to swim.
I had an experience when I was about ten years of age. I fell accidentally into a pool and went down three times. I can still remember the dark water engulfing my head, and my gasping for air until another boy pulled me out at the last moment. This experience sank into my subconscious mind; for years I feared the water.
An elderly psychologist said to me, "Go down to the swimming pool, look at the water, and say out loud in strong tones, 'I am going to master you, I can dominate you;' then go into the water, take lessons, and overcome it." This I did. I learned that when you do the thing you are afraid to do, fear disappears.
It was only a shadow in my mind. When I assumed a new attitude of mind, the omnipotent power of the subconscious responded giving me strength, faith, and confidence, enabling me to over- come. I used the subconscious mind to the point where it began to use me.
Following is a process and technique for overcoming fear which I teach from the platform — it works like a charm. Try it! Suppose you are afraid of the water, or a mountain, an interview, an audition, or you fear closed places. If afraid of swimming, begin now to sit still for five or ten minutes, for three or four times a day, and imagine you are swimming. Actually you are swimming in your mind; it is a subjective experience. Mentally you have projected yourself into the water. You feel the chill of the water and the movement of your arms and legs. It is all real, vivid, and a joyous activity of the mind. It is not idle day dreaming, for you know what you are subjectively experiencing in your imagination will be developed in your subconscious mind; then you will be compelled to express the image and likeness of the picture you impressed on your deeper mind; this is the law of the subconscious
As you continue to discipline your mind this way, you are mentally immersed in the water and happy in it, consequently the fear passes; you will enter the water physically. I might say you will be compelled to give a good performance. You have consciously called upon the wonderful power of your subconscious which is all wise and powerful; this power controls you and governs you ac- cording to the nature of your call or request. This is a wonderful thing to know and a marvelous thing to do.
The president of a large organization told me that when he was a salesman, he used to walk around the block five or six times before he called on a customer. The sales manager came along one day, and said to him, "Don't be afraid of the boogie man behind the door, there is no boogie man; it's a false belief.
The manager told him that whenever he looked at his own fears, he stared them in the face and stood up to them, looking them straight in the eye; then they faded and shrank into insignificance.
Go out now and face that thing you are afraid of. If you are afraid to take that position, take it. Say to yourself "I can accomplish; I will succeed!" You will find a corresponding emotion or feeling generated by your subconscious. You will induce the mood or feeling of confidence, faith in yourself, and the joy of accomplish- ment. Fear is a thought in your mind, but confidence is a far more powerful thought; it fills your mind with a positive, constructive feeling and drives fear out. A chaplain told me of one of his experiences in the second World War. He had to parachute from a damaged plane and land in a jungle. He said he was frightened, but he knew there were two kinds of fear, normal and abnormal. Normal fear is good; it is the law of self preservation. It is the subconscious mind telling you something must be done. It is sort of an alarm system that tells you to get out of the way of an oncoming car.
The chaplain said, "I began to talk to myself saying, 'John, you can't surrender to your fear; your fear is a desire for safety or security, for a way out.' "
He said that he knew there was a subjective intelligence which led the birds to their food and told them where to go in summer and winter. He began to claim, "Infinite Intelligence which guides the planets in their course is now leading and guiding me out of this jungle."
He kept saying this out loud to himself for ten minutes or more. "Then," he added, "something began to stir inside me, a mood of confidence began to seize me, and I began to walk. After a few days I came out miraculously, and was picked up by a rescue plane." His changed mental attitude saved him. His confidence and trust in the subjective wisdom and power within him was the solution to his problem. He said, "Had I begun to bemoan my fate and indulge my fears, I would have succumbed to the monster fear, and probably have died of fear and starvation."
Whenever fear comes, go to the opposite immediately in your mind. To indulge in fear thoughts constantly and to engage your mind constantly with negative thoughts result in abnormal fear, obsessions, and complexes. To engage the mind with all the difficulties of your problem will only instill more fear until it assumes a size of catastrophic proportions. Finally there comes a sense of panic and terror weakening and sickening you. You can overcome fear of this nature when you know that the power of your subconscious can always change the objective conditions. Go within, claim, and feel your good—the solution. Know there is an Infinite Intelligence which responds and reacts to your thought and feeling.
Imagine the end; feel the thrill of victory.
reference: THE MIRACLES OF YOUR MIND By JOSEPH MURPHY
