Navigating Real-Life Challenges And Threats
When you step into your everyday world, are you situationally aware of your surroundings or simply afraid of them? Do you know what to do if a worst-case scenario presents itself to you? Are you afraid or prepared for FOCUSED ACTION?
It Is All Too Easy To Define Fear In Negative Terms
It seems natural to do so because this is how most of us view threats and challenges to our safety and well-being. But It is not all that simple. The following addresses the important emotion of FEAR:
Earlier in my career, I became acquainted with a world-famous athlete who had never lost a match in his expertise. He can remain nameless regarding our purposes here, but let’s explore how he viewed fear and how fear can promote positive or negative outcomes. We will call him Joe.
Joe and I were having dinner one evening, and he mentioned that he was a little confused about his feelings. He said, “Here I am, the world’s greatest at two things – the sport I play and the expert knowledge I have of the history and proceedings of another sport I do not engage in physically. Yet, with all of this expertise and confidence, I fear getting married.”
Even this exceptional athlete, who excels in his field, experiences’ fear’ and the emotional arousal it brings. Surprisingly, this fear is not a hindrance but a catalyst for world-class athletic performance.
Take Cus D’Amato, Mike Tyson’s trainer, for instance. He and Joe both believed that fear, anxiety, and high emotional arousal are not just normal but essential in high-stakes competitions. Whether it’s boxing, wrestling, handball, or tennis, fear can be your ally if you’re facing a formidable opponent whose sole aim is to defeat you. The ‘edge’ fuels high focus, high energy, and total commitment to winning at that moment.
The Point Is This: Fear Is Not Always Debilitating
It’s a useful tool in highly competitive environments, where the Fight or Flight response often comes into play. The key takeaway is that fear, far from being a weakness, can be a strength in the proper context.
When faced with a threat of any sort, we react quickly, whether this be a challenge to be met – or avoided. If it is to be met, we want maximum capability. This capability is generally the result of previous training, preparation, and acquisition of the performance skills driving these capabilities (our safety, our ability to be self-protective) while also putting the competitor out of commission as called for, such as in the obvious case of competitive boxing.
Let’s keep in mind that the above examples of the value of fear are distinct from most everyday realities, such as the risk involved in getting married, where you don’t outperform, and there is no “one winner.” You can prepare for competitive boxing with massive training schedules. This is a single event, or series of events, where you are highly trained, know you are facing world-class danger, and have your highly aroused, intense mind/body integration to serve your full-body attitude.
When it comes to fear in everyday life, we want to be prepared with the necessary “survival skills.” Freedom and quiet confidence get you In The Zone.
The Best Offense Is A Good Defense—Vince Lombardi
In the In The Zone Skills Training, you learn to be Relaxed, Balanced, Flexible, and Focused in everything you do at home, work, and elsewhere. You learn high-performance skills basic to all performances, whether boxing, golf, writing code, or interacting with others socially and professionally, as you achieve certification as an In The Zone Life Coach. Let’s see how this works.
Let’s Start With A Definition Of FEAR
Fear is “an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain, a threat.” It is generally associated with a “trembling response,” insecurity, and apprehension. Stress hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline are released into the bloodstream; blood pressure increases, heart rate increases, blood flows into the heart into the limbs, and we tend to breathe faster with shallow breaths. From a neuropsychology perspective, the body senses danger. It sends messages to the hypothalamus and the amygdala, the brain’s fear center, which then alerts the body to take action in a “flight or flight” nature. Like Mike Tyson, we are ready for action unless the arousal is so tremendous and uncontrollable that we become ineffective, confused, and basically “a sitting duck.”
There Are Many Fear Factors, But The Most Crucial Predictor Of Debilitating Fear Is LACK OF EDUCATION
When we avoid learning about potential danger, we become increasingly mindless and functionally disarmed. Coping with life challenges involves learning about them and making appropriate adaptations before and during their occurrence. But what do most of us do? Watching television (Talk TV) accelerates higher levels of fear. Always thinking about theft, being stalked, man-made disasters, wars, terrorist attacks, the news, and failing economies. All of these involve negative thinking and negative emotional dispositions reinforced throughout the day. It is said we typically experience about 50,00 thoughts a day, and we have to wonder what percentage our negative thoughts command. It is an individual experience.
If negative thoughts dominate your consciousness, you choose to live a threatened life, which is the ongoing foundation for a life driven by fear.
There are a few fundamental fears, such as falling and loud sounds, which are both innate. We have fears of heights, illness, injury, spiders, insects, paying bills, germs, etc. Most fears are self-generated, emerging from past experiences, those we have talked with, and what they have said. In this way of living, we develop a chronic state of apprehension, high, debilitating emotional arousal, avoidance overcomes approach, and we systematically withdraw from an adaptive life. We become dissociated from ourselves, unable to have loving feelings, and exhibit learned helplessness, phobias, anxieties, mood swings, and obsessive-compulsive thoughts.
How The Mulry Method Transmutes Fear Into Success
Our psychoeducational-based training system, The Mulry Method, integrates two science-based theoretical models with our tried-and-true In The Zone Skills Training.
Rotter’s Social Learning Theory (SLT) and its pioneering Internal Locus of Control research are the first of the two theories. It clarifies our mental/rational side, emphasizing EXPECTANCY for success or failure.
The second science-based theoretical model is Stephen Porges’s Polyvagal Theory, which clarifies our physical/visceral functioning with an emphasis on NEUROCEPTION. Both expectancy and neuroception are processes within, alerting us to the likelihood of forthcoming danger.
- Expectancy is a probability statement.
- Neuroception is a “gut-level” apprehension.
Both influence our ability to anticipate threats and dangers. Like the Amygdala, they can be considered “alarm systems within.” Once we have the skills to control these alarms, we can effectively overcome fear in our self-defense.
Comprehensive Self-Learning Tools
Becoming equipped with a science-based body of knowledge and self-mastery performance skills will be helpful in all aspects of daily living at home, work, and elsewhere. Self-learners have an advanced understanding of the importance of successful adaptation and development of self-protection skills in their own lives and the lives of those they will serve.