Is Unconscious FEAR corrupting your Performance?
Let me get straight to the answer.
If you worry a lot, if you struggle with anxiety, if you call yourself a “control freak”, if you feel overwhelmed most days, if you have difficulty sustaining focus, if you live in reaction mode, if your brain feels exhausted…the answer is YES, fear is corrupting your performance.
This is good news. Good news because the first step to create changes in our lives is awareness, it is accepting the truth. The next step is the willingness to believe 100% that you have the power to change!
“What you don’t know can hurt you.”
You have the power because the brain is malleable, because you can change your mind and you can make choices that promote growth and healing. You can become free of fear.
Now that you know your truth and you believe that you can change your mind, your brain wiring and behaviors, I will show you here how you can start addressing that unconscious fear and take your performance to a whole new level.
Why does fear corrupt productivity and performance?
In a very short summary here, fear corrupts your ability to thrive because fear puts you on survival mode. In neuroscience language that means that your amygdala is activated, that robs a lot of your enegry. There is a lot of electrical activity in your brain which keeps you over-aroused and that does not promote flow state. Your brain stress system (HPA axis) is pouring a lot of stress hormones in your body which overtime makes you fat, tired and sick. And your nervous system is in fight or flight mode, you basically get highjacked by the illusion of fear.
In this state your pre frontal cortex (PFC) - the executive brain goes off line in times of high stress and gets exhausted when the stress is chronic. Remember the last time you said “I can’t think straight”, that is your PFC depleted. That brain uses a lot of energy, about 20% to 25% of the whole body’s energy, it is the hungriest organ in the body. That is in a resting state.
So then, worry, need to control, anxiety, overwhelm are consuming a lot of your life force, vital energy that can be used for creativity, problems solving, focus, engagement and growth which is the state of creation or thriving - that is where high performance happens!. It is the opposite of surviving. It is a state where you feel connected, engaged, enthusiastic and happy. In this state you are rmuch more resourceful and can contribute a lot more. That brings us fulfillment.
Fear can be initially a motivator, a catalyst for change, but it is a terrible companion for the journey. Fear itself has no power until you feed it with more thoughts of fear and then you take actions from fear. You create a monster inside you.
“Fear breeds more fear.”
In the language of pure energy, fear is a very low density energy form, it is heavy. It fosters guilt, anger, shame and negativity which affects our health. Fear creates brain-heart incoherence, which is a state of chaos that overtime leads to disharmony and disease. There is so much research on brain and heart coherence as the state where the body heals.
A lof of my teachings and guidance with my clients are on fear, I help them to transform fear by addressing the root of it. The root of our fear is a long story, to keep it simple I will say that the root is our childhood, the beliefs we picked up from our parents, our past generations and our culture. Those beliefs shaped our perception, how we see the world and how we respond to difficulties in our lives.
Here are a few processes that you can use to start addressing your unconscious fear:
Write down on your journal where and how fear is showing up in your life.
Feel the fear, where is it located in your body?
What does it feel like? Tightness, constriction, pressure, pain?
If you feel safe, allow that feeling to be there and take few deep breaths into that space.
Explore it. What are the narratives of your fear? What beliefs/thoughts you have that create fear?
Question those beliefs. Do you know this belief to be 100% true? Do you want to keep that belief? How does it serve you? ( there is a long inquiry and process I use with my clients)
Try that. See how that feeling in the body shifts. By simply looking at fear in the “eye”, it decreases because you became aware of it, it is no longer unconscious. .
This is worth exploring, take the time and energy.
According to Srinivasan Pillay, M.D., the problem of unconscious fear is that the brain is in a state of constant anticipation of negative things.
The brain becomes then hardwired and addicted to thoughts of fear. Break the pattern. Replace fear by faith, believe in what is possible for you. Faith is believing without seeing. You have to break the familiarity, the known in order to change.
Imagine what it would be like to work every day in a state of calm and ease, joy and love. That is what happens when you stop living in fear. You get to live in your essence, in your truth.
Living in a state of love, joy, vitality and freedom is not fairy tale, it is not far from you. We don’t need anxiety, overwhelm, stress in order to be successful. It is time for a paradigm shift, the choice is yours. Get curious, don’t take my word. Do the inner work and see for yourself.
Let’s live in our hearts, not in our minds.
Much love, Alex.
“No one who lives in fear is fully alive.” A Course in Miracles