Fear of the Unknown

Just as our physical bodies need strong core muscles to help us stand, move and leverage our strength, our minds need a strong spiritual core to respond effectively when faced with emotional challenges.

Fear of the unknown is a common human response spreading around the world as the pandemic travels the globe. This fight or flight response kept early humans safe while they evaluated a new potential threat, like a saber-toothed tiger or forest fire. Confronting an invisible virus that has spread around the world, however, leaves no option for fight or flee. This causes a person’s stress response to naturally build up a steady supply of cortisol that can lead to a host of problems such as weight gain, reliance on drugs, alcohol or tobacco products, irritability, poor sleep, pain or illness. No one needs these problems on top of the big challenges facing us in these unprecedented times.

Just as our physical bodies need strong core muscles to help us stand, move and leverage our strength, our minds need a strong spiritual core to respond effectively when faced with emotional challenges like fear and worry. This is what feeds the fortitude to know that we are up to facing whatever difficulties may come our way.

Athletes train hard to prepare their bodies to meet an opponent and turn the action in their favor. Similarly, we can build our spiritual core for resilience when facing emotional challenges. Here are three ways to strengthen your spiritual self:

  • Meditate
  • Pray
  • Spend time in nature

Meditating regularly puts you in touch with your higher self, which you can then access more quickly in stressful times. Even 10 minutes of daily meditation has been shown to provide health benefits and resiliency increases with better health. It is easier to think of solutions when calm.

Having an active prayer life reinforces your connection with the Divine, reminding you that you are not alone in your darkest moments. We are all stronger emotionally when we know that we have support when facing troubles.

Being in nature puts things in perspective, reminding us that there are greater forces in the world than our human dramas. Both meditation and prayer can be combined with being in nature, where we are rejuvenated by the energy of the trees and plants around us. If your stress level is too high to even meditate or pray, simply stepping outside for a few minutes can restore some balance enough to then successfully pray or meditate.

People who meditate, pray or regularly spend time out in nature radiate a sense of calm that proactively diffuses many potential problems before they can negatively impact the individual. Much of this effect comes from an increased clarity of mind that results in clearer thinking, better decision making and taking more positive actions.

If you feel that fear of the unknown may be impacting your life, focus on strengthening your spiritual core to improve your resiliency. Reducing your automatic stress response leads to better health and an overall feeling of wellness.

Visit www.soothehypnosis.com to learn how hypnotism works and how it can complement your efforts to manage your fears, increase your resiliency and help you connect with your spiritual core.

Photo from Pixabay.

Resources

Here is a list of reference books, websites and videos that I sometimes recommend to my clients based on their needs.

COVID UPDATES: If you are experiencing abuse, the CDC lists many support hotlines at this link: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/daily-life-coping/stress-coping/abuse.html

Also, if you are a victim of human trafficking, you can get help at the Human Trafficking Hotline: 888-373-7888 or you can text “help” or “info” to 233733.

ORIGINAL POST: Here is a list of reference books, websites and videos that I sometimes recommend to my clients based on their needs. Most of these resources are available in electronic format, such as videos or eBooks. The books are available at the public library.

I will continue to add to this list as I find additional resources worth recommending.

Nutrition

Many clients want to improve their nutrition to address medical issues, eliminate/avoid inflammation, manage weight or just live a healthier lifestyle. Here are resources I have found helpful for different clients. I do not endorse any specific food plan over another, such as paleo vs. vegan. Each  person needs to find the best food plan for their individual health and life goals. Always check with you doctor before making significant changes to your food plan.

  • Sugar Coated Documentary: film on Netflix or Vimeo. This film will make you rethink the roles of fat and sugar in a healthy diet. http://sugarcoateddoc.com/about-the-film/
  • Minding Your Mitochondria TedX Talk by Dr. Terry Wahls available on You Tube. She covers the importance of good nutrition to preventing and improving the symptoms of illnesses, including autoimmune diseases. Her book, The Wahls Protocol is also available in audio version. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KLjgBLwH3Wc
  • Nutritionfacts.org, Dr. Michael Gregor’s website is full of evidence based nutrition information. His book, How Not to Die, is interesting, too. https://nutritionfacts.org/
  • Grain Brain, the book for people who need to eat gluten free by Dr. David Perlmutter is available in audio format, too. His website has a wealth of nutrition information. https://www.drperlmutter.com/
  • Wheat Belly is another book for people who need to eat gluten free, written by Dr. William Davis. His blog site has several informative posts. https://www.wheatbellyblog.com/
  • Both the movie, Forks over Knives, available on Amazon and You Tube, and the website, provide information useful for people considering a plant based diet. https://www.forksoverknives.com/
  • Kristina Carrillo-Bucarim has a cookbook and series of cheerful videos on raw vegan recipes. Many of her recipes even fit in nicely with other food plans. https://m.youtube.com/user/FullyRawKristina

Wellness and Pain Reduction

Many clients use hypnotism to support their medical care to improve wellness, or manage the symptoms of illness, injuries, pain or other physical problems.

  • The book You are the Placebo, by Dr, Joe Dispenza, highlights your role in healing. There are some free online resources on his website. https://drjoedispenza.com/
  • Louise Hay’s book, Heal Your Body is one of her classics. Her website offers many positive resources. https://www.louisehay.com/

Life and Spirituality

In a hypnotism session, I work directly with the client’s subconscious mind, which is why hypnotism is so effective at addressing general life issues and spirituality questions. Here are resources that I recommend to clients for a variety of topics.

  • The Power of Now, Eckhart Tolle’s book on mindfulness and the importance of living in the moment is helpful for people dealing with stress and problems. His website includes additional resources. https://www.eckharttolle.com/
  • I recommend The Brain, by Dr. David Eagleman, for clients working on issues related to their worldview. When we change our mind, our perception changes along with our reality. His videos are online at PBS. https://www.pbs.org/show/brain-david-eagleman/ Read more about Dr. Eagleman on his website. https://www.eagleman.com/
  • For clients who are terribly stressed out from listening, and believing, all of the over-reactive reporting in the news media, I recommend the book The Rational Optimist by Matt Ridley. He has some interesting blog articles, too. http://www.rationaloptimist.com/blog/
  • For scientific minded clients going through a spiritual struggle, I recommend The God Theory, written by Bernard Haisch. Here is the link to his webpage. http://www.thegodtheory.com/ He has a number of videos on You Tube.
  • The Magic Path of Intuition is a sweet little book by Florence Scovel Shinn that encourages people to trust their own intuition.
  • For pragmatic clients learning to trust their intuition, I recommend Gavin de Becker’s book The Gift of Fear. He also has You Tube Videos available on a variety of related topics.
  • Another classic Louise Hay book is You Can Heal Your Life. Her website offers many positive resources. https://www.louisehay.com/

What is your favorite book or video that has helped you overcome hurdles in life or make significant changes? Leave a comment and share it with us.

For more information on how hypnotism can help with all of the life changes mentioned in this article, check out some of my other blog postings and look at my Soothe Hypnosis website https://soothehypnosis.com/