Anxiety can create feelings of fear, worry, uneasiness and dread. Anxiety is considered to be a normal reaction to an external stressful event. It may actually help us to deal with a difficult situation by prompting us to cope with it. But when anxiety becomes excessive, when we feel terror or when we suffer from panic attacks, the fear starts to impact our ability to live freely and happily.
This might prompt us to avoid the situations that cause us to feel frightened, to stay in our comfort zone, in order to protect us and feel safe. Vitalis Coaching believes we all have a comfort zone, a stretch zone and a panic zone. And the idea is to explore the stretch zone in a gentle and caring matter, without reaching the panic zone. In that way we’ll expand the area that feels safe.
We’ll hold you safe and with gentleness and honesty we move closer to the walls that divide these zones. We, so to speak, touch them and smell them and get to know them well. We become familiar with the strategies and beliefs we use to build the walls. We start to get curious about what is going on. Without calling what we see as right or wrong, we simply look as objectively and curiously as we can. What are our methods of escaping the feelings of anxiety, depression, boredom or loneliness? Do we cheer ourselves up with shopping, watching hours of television, eating, adventures, alcohol or surfing the net? Some of these methods are dangerous, some are humorous, and some are quite benign.
We will observe ourselves with humour, not getting overly serious, moralistic, or uptight about this investigation. We train in remaining open and receptive to whatever arises. Instead of avoiding uncertainty, pain and fear we learn to relate to our discomfort. The cracks in the walls will widen, compassion awakens to accommodate our own fears and courage and love flow through.
Source: "The places that scare you, a guide to fearlessness" by Pema Chödrön.
