Have you ever had a bad experience that left a lasting impact on you? Perhaps it was encountering a dangerous animal or a close call in a hazardous situation. It’s natural to feel afraid in such situations, but it’s important to learn how to process and let go of that fear, so it doesn’t turn into a debilitating phobia.
For example, imagine you’re out for a walk in the bush and come across a brown snake. Your initial reaction is likely to be fear and alarm. You might even start to believe that you’re now terrified of brown snakes and never want to go out in the bush again. But an hour later, you see a coiled-up rope on the side of the path and mistake it for a snake. If you hadn’t had that previous experience with a brown snake, you wouldn’t have even given it a second thought.
The truth is that we encounter countless experiences that we don’t acknowledge, and therefore, they don’t affect us. However, we can learn to process and let go of our fears without burying them down and turning them into phobias. The key is to relax into the experience and let it come through.
It’s important to understand that letting go doesn’t mean pushing down and burying the experience. It’s about acknowledging the experience, processing the emotions that come with it, and then letting it go. Relaxing your body is an essential step in this process. When you’re relaxed, you’re better able to let go of the fear and move on from the experience.
By learning to let go, you can still learn from the experience without letting it control you. For example, the next time you encounter a brown snake, you won’t walk up to it and pick it up, but you also won’t jump at every little thing you see. You’ll be able to take a wide berth and move around safely.
In conclusion, experiencing fear is natural, but it’s crucial to learn how to process and let go of that fear. It’s about relaxing into the experience, acknowledging it, and then letting it go without burying it down. By doing so, you can learn from the experience without letting it turn into a phobia that controls you.
