Do you have fears that are stopping you from doing things you want and know you should be doing?
I'm guessing the answer is yes, seeing as you're a human being living on 21st century earth. Indeed we all have certain psychological blockers that stop us from fulfilling our potential, whatever it may be.
In the last article of the series, Incredible You! Find Your Flow With The Awesome Power Of Calm, I gave you a little glimpse into how to use memory editing to achieve a state of calm.
However the subject is big enough to warrant its own set of articles. The concepts are easy to learn and master, however they do take some explaining.
So over the next four articles I will be giving you mind techniques which will ultimately help you conquer your deepest darkest fears.
As with all my techniques, I have used it myself extensively, to great effect. I am not just telling you this works because I have read it somewhere, it is because I know it works.
Escaping The Deep - Overcoming A Fear Of Drowning
From the time I was around eight years old, up until last December, I had a morbid fear of deep water. It wasn't so much that I was scared of drowning; although that was clearly part of it. It was the actual water itself, the thought of not being able to tread water or swim out of trouble that really panicked me.
If ever I went into the sea on holiday, I made sure that I was never deeper than shoulder height. On very rare occasions I would let the water come up to my chin, although I rarely felt that brave.
My fear wasn't just restricted to open water either, even in my local pool, I didn't swim into the deep end unless I was right by the side and could grab on at any moment.
The fear was all consuming, and all powerful. I mistakenly attributed my dislike of deep water to the fact that I wasn't a very good swimmer.
However this myth was dispelled when I took a 30 day swimming challenge; by the end of which I could swim half a mile, stopping only once. Yet still my deep water fear persisted.
Then I discovered the NLP (neuro-linguistic programming) technique of editing memories.
A few exercises later, and my fears were gone, I now relish going into deep water. You still won't find me swimming miles out to sea, however I'm quite happy to swim where I can't touch the bottom.
So; how does it work?
Step 1. Memory Analysis
You can break down phobias into two general categories; ones that are connected to a bad experience in your past, and ones that aren't.
We will talk about what the different ways to deal with them in later articles.
First though we will indulge in some very basic memory editing, a technique you will use no matter what type of phobia you have.
As usual it is good to do this exercise somewhere you won't be disturbed and is free from general distractions.
Go on; put that phone on silent, it won't kill you . .
Now I want you to think back to a happy memory you have. It might be from your early childhood, it might be from last week, it doesn't matter, as long as you smile when you're recalling the event.
Really focus and hold the memory in your head, and start to notice details about the memory, details such as:
Is it a still memory like a photograph?
Does it move like a film?
Perhaps it's a combination of both . .
Are you viewing this memory in the first person, through your own eyes?
Or are you viewing it in the third person, looking at yourself like a character in a film?
Is the image in black and white or colour?
Does the image have sound?
What's the sound like; can you hear the voices of people involved?
Can you hear background noise?
Then you want to analyse how the memory is making you feel.
Do you feel happy?
Do you feel sad?
Do You feel anxious?
Are you on the verge of tears?
Are you smiling?
Are you frowning?
Are you holding your breath?
Once you have ascertained what your memory is like, and you can hold it effortlessly in your head (if you can't choose another memory) we can now start to change certain parameters for fun.
Step 2. Basic Memory Editing
OK, great you're doing fantastic, you have identified a memory and you have really focused on the details (or lack thereof) of the memory.
Now let's start to have fun; first of all if your memory was in colour, I want you to make it black and white. It is important that you keep everything else the same. You might find you may have to run the memory over a few times normally, before you attempt to take the colour away.
If your original memory was in black and white, then I want you to add colour to it. In both cases, try and make this an instant change.
Once you've done this focus on the memory in this new state and try and become aware if the colour change has made you view the memory any differently.
Even if you can't articulate it, if you have chosen an evocative enough memory, then your colour correction should make you feel different.
OK, stop that now, and think of the first phone number you ever memorised. Or the colour of your front door when you were a child.
The reason you do this, is the same reason you have a small piece of ginger after each sushi dish; to clear your palate.
From now on, I will refer to this as clearing your mind palate.
Go back to the memory several times, each time make sure you reset to the original memory, and change another parameter. Making sure to clear your mind palate after each instance.
The one I suggest next is focus; if you remember the event in sharp focus, then make it blurry to the point you can hardly recognise it.
If the memory was soft focus, then sharpen it up; experiment with different levels of blur, from extreme to subtle.
Each time you change a parameter, I want you to think of something random, like an old phone number or the colour of a petty object from your childhood.
Once you have got good at going back and forth between original memory and newly edited one. You can try and change two parameters at once. So you might decide to turn the volume right up and take away all the colour.
The big take away from this step is you should always monitor how you feel before and after the change. If you make a change that makes you smile or takes some of the joy of the memory away, then register how it feels and move on.
The Incredible You! Flow State Series So Far:
Incredible You! Find Your Flow With The Awesome Power Of Calm
Incredible You! - Ten Thousand Dollar An Hour Tasks With The Get Sh*t Done System!
Incredible You! - Organise Your Life With The Get Sh*t Done System!
Incredible You! - Flow Your Way To Success With The Power Of Single Tasking
Incredible You! Single Task Training - 3 Steps To Flow
Incredible You! Single Task Training The Final Test - Becoming A Flow JediIncredible You! - Feeling The Flow With The Power Of Touch
Incredible You! - Connect To The Moment And Enhance Your Power With Sound
Incredible You! - Move Like An Animal With Ido Portal
Incredible You! - Finding Your Flow State Superpower
WE'LL LEAVE IT THERE FOR TODAY, TOMORROW WE WILL LOOK AT MORE MEMORY ALTERING TECHNIQUES. HAVE YOU HEARD OF NLP BEFORE? DO YOU USE IT? OR MAYBE YOU HAVE QUESTIONS ABOUT THE EXERCISES ABOVE? AS EVER, LET ME KNOW BELOW!