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Overcome The Falsehood Of Fear

Overcome The Falsehood Of Fear

by Linda-Ann Stewart Grand Canyon Rim Trail

Many years ago, I decided to overcome my fear of acting. Instead of diving in, I attended an audition for a play at the local community theater to familiarize myself with the process. This lowered my anxiety threshold, and I made plans to ease into auditioning for a play a few months later.

The Universe had other ideas. The director insisted I audition for that play and gave me a supporting role in it. Within weeks of committing myself to overcoming my fear of acting in front of an audience, I was officially a thespian.

The only thing that had prevented me from doing this before was my fear. I was afraid I’d forget my lines or my blocking, and panic if something unexpected happened. None of those fears were based on reality. They were simply excuses to keep me from fulfilling a goal.

As a survival instinct, fear’s mission is to give you the energy to fight or flee from a physical danger. But the mind doesn’t distinguish between a real or imagined, physical or emotional threat. It reacts to the image in your mind. Whether the image comes from your eyes or your imagination doesn’t matter. Your mind acts on it in the same way. Only when the hazard is real is the instinct a positive response.

Most of what you fear is a lie. Unless it’s acting as a survival instinct against physical injury, fear is an emotion that’s based on your beliefs. The emotion is an attempt by older thought patterns to keep you safe. Those thoughts were developed in an environment that no longer exists. If you didn’t have those beliefs, you wouldn’t feel fear.

Those patterns were designed specifically to convince you that you couldn’t survive if the worst happened. Fear of rejection, disapproval, failure, disappointment, responsibility, and success are just a few reasons why this emotion keeps you stuck. What you tell yourself about a situation becomes an autosuggestion that reinforces the feeling. This makes you think it has more validity than it actually does and strengthens its grip on you.

As a child, you were taught to cross the street by looking both ways to make sure there weren’t any cars coming. That’s normal caution. You check to see if there’s danger coming, and if there isn’t, you move ahead. But you could continue to look both ways forever and never commit to crossing the road. In this case, you’d be stuck in paralyzing fear.

The autosuggestion that created your belief is mutable. You created it and you can change it. Changing the belief changes the emotion. For instance, you can realize that you now have experience, knowledge and resources you didn’t have when the old thought patterns were created.

If you ask for a raise and get turned down, you’ll be disappointed. But you won’t be devastated as you might have been as a child when something similar happened. Speaking up for yourself and getting belittled is upsetting, but it doesn’t have to destroy you anymore. You can even find help from people and places if need be.

When you take a deep breath and forge ahead, the Universe comes in to support and guide you. Opportunities, contacts, resources, knowledge and anything else you need ambles into your path. Your energy is directed towards your goal, instead of toward playing it safe and staying put.

When fear comes up in your life, assess it to see if it’s realistic or valid. If not, remind yourself that it’s a lie, trying to fool you to believing there’s danger where none exists. Once you’ve established that it’s safe to move forward, fear is no longer helpful. Commit yourself to your vision and dedicate yourself to moving forward. Fear begins to dissipate when you prove to yourself that its message is false.

After that first play, I acted in three more. I remembered my lines, blocking, choreography and easily handled unexpected situations that arose onstage. It was a magnificent time in my life. I enjoyed it, grew from it, and became a different person because of it. When you stop letting fear rule your actions, your life will change. Not only will it be richer and freer, but also you’ll be more satisfied and fulfilled.

Affirmation

Fear is a false idea that simply comes from my old beliefs. Beliefs that my mind has created, my mind can also change. I remind myself that fears are simply to caution me. The Universe protects and guides me in the right direction. Whatever I need to fulfill my goal appears, as I need it. As I commit myself to moving forward, the next step unfolds for a richer and fuller life.

Copyright 2012, 2015 Linda Ann Stewart
All Rights Reserved

Succeed at Your New Year’s Resolution

Succeed at Your New Year’s Resolution

92% of the people who make New Year’s resolutions never succeed with them. They either overwhelm themselves with Success and Failure Road Sign with dramatic clouds and sky.too many goals, try to accomplish too much too fast, aren’t committed enough to the change, don’t realize what a commitment it is, or life gets them off track.

Whatever the reason, New Year’s resolutions have gotten a reputation for failure. One of the main reasons is that people try to change everything at one time. So, instead of setting resolutions, plural, set resolution, singular. This one step will significantly increase your chances of accomplishing it.

Here are some other suggestions to help you succeed:

  •  Choose one area to focus on.
  • Write down all the steps necessary to achieve it.
  • Prioritize those steps, with reasonable deadlines.
  • Choose one step and work on it a few minutes each day.
  • If you skip a day, or get off track, don’t let it discourage you. Recommit yourself to your goal, and start again.
  • Visualize yourself accomplishing your goal a couple of minutes a day.
  • Write a vision statement, in the positive, about your goal. Read it in the morning and the evening.

It may take you several weeks before you see improvement. But you’ll be that much closer to accomplishing it. And by taking action every day, you’re creating a habit to support yourself and what you want. The side effect will be an increased self-respect and self-worth.

If you’d want some help to focus, prioritize and break through your barriers, contact me for a complimentary coaching consultation at (928) 600-0452 or LAS@Linda-AnnStewart.com.

~Linda-Ann Stewart

Do I need to translate affirmations from English into my native language?

Do I need to translate affirmations from English into my native language?

Question: Do I need to translate affirmations from English into my native language for my subconscious mind to understand them?

Answer: I understand your concern about the subconscious understanding affirmations in a foreign language, but there shouldn’t be any problem with it doing so. The language of the subconscious is imagery, and your ability to understand English is also in the subconscious (as is everything else you’ve ever learned). If you didn’t understand English, then there would be a problem.

In my private hypnotherapy practice, I’ve worked with many people who have English as their second language. I generally give the suggestion (to everyone), that “Your subconscious mind hears and understands everything I say.”  Their subconscious mind translates what I’ve said into information that they understand. If you find yourself putting too much effort into comprehending the affirmation, then you might want to translate it. Or just state, “My subconscious understands every word of this affirmation.”

Copyright 2006, 2014 Linda Ann Stewart
All Rights Reserved

Are Your Expectations Realistic?

Are Your Expectations Realistic?

by Linda-Ann Stewart

Many years ago, Julie came to me to use hypnotherapy for weight loss. As we talked about what she wanted, I discovered Step Through Woodsthat she had unrealistic expectations about what hypnosis could do for her. She didn’t want to reduce the amount or kind of food she ate, or exercise. Instead, she expected hypnosis to magically speed up her metabolism so she could continue to eat the way she always had and still lose weight.

She went on to explain that she just wanted to eat normal portions. When I asked what she considered those to be, she said, “What you get in a restaurant.” Since restaurants serve hearty portions that would put weight on almost anyone, it was unrealistic that she’d be able to reduce weight if she continued to eat that way.

Are your goals realistic or are they fantasies that could only have a one in ten million chance of coming true? For instance, are you hoping you can dig yourself out of debt by winning the lottery? It happens occasionally, but it’s highly unlikely to happen to you.

Or do you want to attract customers without doing any marketing? Marketing enables your product or service to be visible and lets customers know what you offer. If they don’t know about you, they can’t become customers and you never make sales.

Do you expect people to treat you with respect when you don’t treat yourself that way? Life tends to treat us the way we treat ourselves. When you don’t value yourself, then others are going to take that as a cue to take advantage of you.

Would you expect to play piano without training or rehearsal? Or be a basketball superstar without practice? Except in rare savant or genius instances, you need to cultivate a talent, skill or ability. It doesn’t happen in a week or a month, but over time.

When you have a goal, first you need to decide how realistic it is. If you don’t honestly believe it’s credible, then your subconscious mind will ignore it. Your inner mind follows the lead of your conscious mind. Unless you actually believe you can reach your goal, then your subconscious won’t waste its energy on it.

The next thing you need to do is to commit yourself to whatever it takes to accomplish your desire. This level of intention gets the attention and cooperation of your subconscious mind. It realizes that you wouldn’t be this focused if you didn’t mean it.

Then, break your goal down into small steps. Make sure each one is believable and achievable. Divide it into even smaller components if you don’t think a step can be easily accomplished.

If you’re a couch potato, it’s within reason to conceive of walking five minutes a day and then increase the amount a little bit each week. But if you’d decided to go from the couch to training for a marathon, that would be overwhelming and you’d probably give up.

In the last stage, you dedicate yourself to take a step each day that helps you move in the direction of your goal. Again, taking action convinces the subconscious that you really do want your desire. This helps to dissolve any inner conflicts you may have.

When Julie discovered that she’d have to change her behaviors to reach her goal of weight reduction, she decided not to continue with hypnotherapy. She wasn’t dedicated enough to achieve her goal.

As they say, “Rome wasn’t built in a day.” A building needs plans, a foundation, walls, roof, wiring, plumbing, and so forth. Without any of these, the structure is unlivable and may collapse. And, in general, plans need to be done in a specific order. The same is true of any change you want in your life. You’ll need to work on it, realistic brick by brick, until you have the structure you want.

Affirmation

I now assess my desire to realize whether it’s realistic or not. If it’s not, I establish reasonable goals that I know I can accomplish. When I can believe that I can achieve a goal, then I can put my whole being towards creating it. Blocks and barriers fall as I take small steps each day towards my goal. The whole Universe supports me with everything I need to attain my goal as I commit myself to it.

Copyright 2011, 2014 Linda Ann Stewart
All Rights Reserved

Jack Canfield: Planning Your Day

Jack Canfield: Planning Your Day

In this 1 minute video, bestselling author Jack Canfield describes a great technique to help you have a much more productive day. He describes when and how to plan out your day. By doing so, you’re working on your priorities and not someone elses. Also, following his directions uses the power of your subconscious to help you. Your subconscious is the creative part of you. When it’s allowed to fulfill its role, it can seem like miracles happen. You’ll be amazed at how much smoother your day flows when you do this consistently.



~ Linda-Ann Stewart

Start the Journey to Changing Your Life

Start the Journey to Changing Your Life

When you want to make a change in your life, the gap between where you are now and where you want to be probably seems insurmountable. But the longest journey begins with a single step. Learn how you can keep moving towards your goal until you finally achieve it.


Copyright 2014 Linda Ann Stewart
All Rights Reserved

Your First Step: Addressing Your Mindset

Your First Step: Addressing Your Mindset

When you want to achieve a goal or fulfill a vision, you create a plan that includes steps to take you there. But there’s something else you need to address before you even begin working your plan. Learn what this step is, why it’s important, and how you can ensure it will support your success.



~ Linda-Ann

Why do results diminish as I use an affirmation?

Why do results diminish as I use an affirmation?

Question: When I first begin using an affirmation, the results are great, but why do they  diminish as I continue using it?

Answer: There are several things that could be happening, and you’ll have to consider which one might be happening for you. It could be that as you first use the affirmation, you’re very conscious of it, you are dedicated in its use, you say it with feeling. Then, as you get results, and get used to the affirmation, you begin to say it by rote, without emotion, almost automatically. The solution is to stay aware when you say it, and say it with feeling, again.

Or you could simply be getting so used to the affirmation that it loses its punch, or you could be getting bored with it. In that case, change to another one that with the same idea for awhile. Switching back and forth between affirmations on the same topic is sometimes a good idea to keep them fresh.

Or there could be an inner resistance or conflict to the changes that are occurring. In this case, you’d need to create an affirmation that would address the outdated ideas. I have one on my affirmations page to deal with blocks – “Whatever has been blocking what I desire is an outdated thought form which now dissolves in the Light of Spirit.”

Or as things taper off for awhile, as the changes you’ve experienced begin to become more solid, you begin to “feel”  frustrated, lose faith in the affirmation, or feel desperate. The subconscious will respond to your feeling before it responds to your words, because feeling and imagery is the language of the subconscious. In the same vein, you could be holding an image/mental picture of the opposite of the affirmation.

These are some of the most common reasons an affirmation begins to flame out. It’s not the affirmation, it’s the attitude or belief of the person saying it. With everything, you have to be patient and persistent.

If it takes longer, you can have an attitude that the longer it takes, the better the results are going to be. The affirmation is working in the background, making changes that you may not be aware of yet.

Copyright 2005, 2014 Linda Ann Stewart
All Rights Reserved

As a speaker, personal and professional development coach and hypnotherapist, Linda-Ann Stewart empowers business and professional women who are stuck, immobilized or overwhelmed get focused, prioritize and break through so they generate more business and create consistent income. If you’d like some help to reach your goals, email her at LAS@Linda-AnnStewart.com with “Complimentary Consultation” in the subject line.

How to reprogram your mind (for positive thinking)

How to reprogram your mind (for positive thinking)

Brendon Burchard describes how your mind creates its programming. By giving your attention to negative thoughts, it develops into a habit. To become more aware, you can take control and decide what to think. He explains how to become aware of what you’re thinking about. Then redirect your attention to focus on what’s positive.



Brendon Burchard is a #1 New York Times bestselling author, personal development trainer, thought leader in human motivation and business marketing. Visit http://brendonburchard.com/ for his free eBook and video series on the secrets to changing your life and reaching high performance in all you do.

~ Linda-Ann Stewart