John Assaraf teaches a breathing and visualization exercise to rewire your fear response. You imagine the worst outcome, then shift focus to what you want while breathing deeply. The technique activates your parasympathetic nervous system to counteract the evolutionary fear circuit that keeps you stuck.
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Hey, this is John Assaraf, CEO of NeuroGym and I want to share with you some thoughts around overcoming fear with inner size. Now, have you ever missed out on an opportunity because you were afraid? Now, we all know that the emotion of fear is an insidious obstacle and unfortunately it can hold you back. For example, if we see a tiger that can kill us, it's a great automatic non conscious response that can save our life. Nowadays there just aren't as many real threats to our survival. Within your brain and mine, there is a fear circuit that our cave dwelling ancestors had to alert them that a saber toothed tiger was on the prowl. Instead of acting up when a tiger is nearby, your fear circuit responds to modern terrorism and fears like public speaking. Fear of heights, fear of being rejected, fear of failing a test. The trigger is different for all of us nowadays, but the fear response is the same. And your non conscious mind does not know the difference between something that is real or even something that you imagine. Luckily for you, you're the boss, not your brain. Let me explain. If you have a specific fear or feel like fear has taken over too many of your thoughts and emotions, slow down and try this simple, easy inner size called fix your focus. Release your fears first, what I want you to do is get into your mind anything that causes you to feel the emotion of fear. Whether it's speaking publicly, failing at achieving a goal and disappointing yourself or others, anything that would cause you to feel that emotion of fear. I want you to just get in your mind right now and then take three big deep breaths. In through your nose and out through your mouth. So you have that image in your mind. You take three deep breaths. Next, what I want you to do is imagine first the potential, potential negative outcome as your fear suggests to you may happen. So I want you to think about what may happen that may be negative, which will activate your fear center. And what I want you to remember as you're doing this is that you are just imagining right now it's not real. See the situation going horribly wrong. And then as you breathe in and out evenly, I want you to project and see in front of you everything happening perfectly. So what this does is it gets you to pretend that you're holding both outcomes, negative and unpleasant and positive and very pleasant, right out in front of you. Look at this one for just a moment as you're breathing in and out. Look at this one as you are objectively comparing the two potential outcomes. As you breathe, which one do you prefer? Obviously you prefer the positive one, one that caused you to feel good versus the negative, unpleasant one. Now know and realize that both are possible and it's mostly up to you to determine which one becomes your reality. Where you choose to focus determines which circuit in your brain lights up. Fear is part of your sympathetic nervous system, where your heartbeat increases, your breathing gets faster, your blood pressure goes up. While focusing on being calm and achieving the positive outcome you want keeps you in a calm state and actually activates what's known as your parasympathetic system nervous system. So once you choose the ideal outcome that you want, I want you to breathe in and out five to six times and really focus on the positive outcome and the feelings that you want for yourself. I want you to feel yourself overcoming any of the physical or mental obstacles that are in your way and relish in the joy and the success that you are going to achieve. And when you acknowledge that you are in control of focusing on the negative or focusing on the positive, that is what guides and instructs your neuroelectrical chemistry, which is what causes your feelings and emotions. Whichever option you choose, what I want you to do is focus on the positive outcome and you will reinforce the neurochemistry within your own brain. If you choose to focus on the positive outcome, you can see yourself, let's say, shaking hands, being social, receiving praise. And this is going to trigger what? Some dopamine, maybe even some oxytocin, if you feel some love and some serotonin, those are the neurotransmitters that make you feel good and activates the motivational centers of your brain. So you go ahead and achieve your goals. If, on the other hand, you focus on the negative unpleasant outcome, you'll actually produce more adrenaline, more cortisol or epinephrine, which are hormones related to stress. You can keep your fear circuit active and actually shut down your motivational circuit if you focus too much on the negative. So the choice is really yours. Your brain wants to make sure you're aware of any potential or real danger. But you don't have to accept or expect the worst. You just have to be aware of the possibilities. And that's when you are more in control. When you sense danger non consciously, your body instantly gets ready to fight, flee, or you freeze, just in case there's real danger. Once you check out your surroundings and your brain receives the feedback loop that the coast is clear, the fear starts to dissipate, especially as you breathe in and out. As you focus on the positive outcome, this simple inner size is one you can use anytime when you feel fear creeping in. If the emotion isn't serving you, let it go. Make sure that you get clear, reject your fear and focus on the positive outcome you want as you breathe. And I guarantee you, over the course of a day, a week and a month of doing this, you you will start to manage your emotion better and eliminate the fear that is holding you back right now. If you like these types of inner sizes and you want to learn more about how to recognize and eliminate any of the fears that may be holding you back, sign up for my upcoming virtual training where I will show you a variety of different techniques to be able to get rid of your conscious or non conscious fears. The information for you to sign up is right here on this page.
