Cancer and everything related to the experience, from the treatments to the uncertainty of what lies ahead, instills some degree of fear into just about everyone who receives a diagnosis. This is especially true once treatments are over and it’s time to resume the normal transmission of life.
Fear isn’t necessarily a bad thing, for example it can stop you from doing something dangerous that might put you or someone else at risk. However it’s important to be mindful not to suppress fear, because it will influence everything about your life for as long as you don’t acknowledge it. Put simply, what you don’t feel, runs you. What this means is that fear will affect your ability to think rationally and make balanced and informed decisions for as long as you do not face it and acknowledge its presence.
When we face fear, we undermine the power that it has over us, and it puts us back in control of our life. It places us back in the driver's seat and we send a message to the subconscious to let it know that we have noticed the ‘warning light’ on the dashboard and that it doesn’t need to remind us.
Use the following formula to help manage fear in a positive way when it shows up.
Acknowledgement. The first step is to acknowledge fear whenever it shows up. If you suppress it, or try to escape it somehow, it intensifies and you end up feeling worse. You give fear power by hiding or running away from it. For you to become fearless, you must welcome fear in.
Observe. Without judgement or trying to change them, witness the stories you are telling yourself when you feel anxious or fearful. Understand that you are not your thoughts, and you are not the story. You are the awareness, observing the story.
Connect. Once you acknowledge the fear and welcome it in, you can then lean into it. The body is the expression of the subconscious mind, and sensations are the language of the body. Take a breath into your body and find out what’s going on. Where do you feel the dominant sensation/s in your body? What qualities does it have?
Be. Tell yourself “for better or worse, this is the way that I’m feeling, for now at least, and that’s perfectly okay. All emotions are valid”. You can also acknowledge the reasons why you feel the way that you do. When you sit with, and accept your feelings as they are without judgement, the emotional charge will dissipate.
Of course fear will likely continue to creep back in over time and try to take charge, and so when it does, take the time to once again repeat the process and sit with the discomfort until the emotional charge lessens or it dissipates.
Remind yourself that you’ve got this. You received the message, you’ve seen the warning, and you are now handling the issue. The more that you do this, the less power fear will have over you, which will benefit every aspect of your life.
Another way to help manage fear is with Core Clearing Breathwork.
During the Core Clearing process, we witness the story and let it go. We don’t argue with the story, we simply observe and unhook ourselves from it, and stop investing in it.
Core Clearing Breathwork is a practice that I now use to help my clients to deal with the fear that is keeping them from moving forwards in life, and to dissolve emotional wounds that have been carried over from the past that manifest as illness, stress, and anxiety in the present moment.
For more information and a free consultation on how this process can benefit you, please contact me here
Cancer and everything related to the experience, from the treatments to the uncertainty of what lies ahead, instills some degree of fear into just about everyone who receives a diagnosis. This is especially true once treatments are over and it’s time to resume the normal transmission of life.
Fear isn’t necessarily a bad thing, for example it can stop you from doing something dangerous that might put you or someone else at risk. However it’s important to be mindful not to suppress fear, because it will influence everything about your life for as long as you don’t acknowledge it. Put simply, what you don’t feel, runs you. What this means is that fear will affect your ability to think rationally and make balanced and informed decisions for as long as you do not face it and acknowledge its presence.
When we face fear, we undermine the power that it has over us, and it puts us back in control of our life. It places us back in the driver's seat and we send a message to the subconscious to let it know that we have noticed the ‘warning light’ on the dashboard and that it doesn’t need to remind us.
Use the following formula to help manage fear in a positive way when it shows up.
Acknowledgement. The first step is to acknowledge fear whenever it shows up. If you suppress it, or try to escape it somehow, it intensifies and you end up feeling worse. You give fear power by hiding or running away from it. For you to become fearless, you must welcome fear in.
Observe. Without judgement or trying to change them, witness the stories you are telling yourself when you feel anxious or fearful. Understand that you are not your thoughts, and you are not the story. You are the awareness, observing the story.
Connect. Once you acknowledge the fear and welcome it in, you can then lean into it. The body is the expression of the subconscious mind, and sensations are the language of the body. Take a breath into your body and find out what’s going on. Where do you feel the dominant sensation/s in your body? What qualities does it have?
Be. Tell yourself “for better or worse, this is the way that I’m feeling, for now at least, and that’s perfectly okay. All emotions are valid”. You can also acknowledge the reasons why you feel the way that you do. When you sit with, and accept your feelings as they are without judgement, the emotional charge will dissipate.
Of course fear will likely continue to creep back in over time and try to take charge, and so when it does, take the time to once again repeat the process and sit with the discomfort until the emotional charge lessens or it dissipates.
Remind yourself that you’ve got this. You received the message, you’ve seen the warning, and you are now handling the issue. The more that you do this, the less power fear will have over you, which will benefit every aspect of your life.
Another way to help manage fear is with Core Clearing Breathwork.
During the Core Clearing process, we witness the story and let it go. We don’t argue with the story, we simply observe and unhook ourselves from it, and stop investing in it.
Core Clearing Breathwork is a practice that I now use to help my clients to deal with the fear that is keeping them from moving forwards in life, and to dissolve emotional wounds that have been carried over from the past that manifest as illness, stress, and anxiety in the present moment.
For more information and a free consultation on how this process can benefit you, please contact me here
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