Phobias, Drowning and Freediving

How many phobias do you have?  I had 15 and those are the ones I can remember.  A phobia is an extreme or illogical fear of or aversion to something, provoking anxiety and avoidance.  I had the usual joy-sucking phobias, those caused by a physical insecurity; the fear of snakes (Ophidiophobia) and the fear of heights (Acrophobia), but I also had those weird phobias we shake our heads at.  I was afraid of clowns and obviously a lot of people are because it’s called Coulrophobia.  I also had a lot of those life-draining phobias too, caused by a psychological insecurity, like the fear of being judged, the fear of failure (Atychiphobia) and  fear of abandonment (Autophobia).  These types of phobias we can hide and often are not even consciously aware of them.

The human psyche is the most creative wonder on this planet, ok, apart from the Source of ALL things and the Energy spiraling everywhere for us to grab onto.  The point is, we’ve created hundreds of phobias, there’s enough people afraid of balloons, cotton balls, belly buttons and long words that we have clinical labels for them. Try saying this phobia – Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophoia, that word alone is frightening. But even more terrifying is a phobia of Being All You Can Be.

The exciting truth to know about phobias is this: if your system can create a phobia in a nanosecond, which it does, it can be removed in a nanosecond.

A phobia, is your system trying to tell you something that is hidden from you. It is an internal response to a perceived external stimuli and once that neurological trigger gets set off, it will repeat itself over and over, but we can end our traumatic suffering and drown those phobias forever.  Learning how to freedive, which is an advanced form of snorkeling and breath-hold, recently helped me let go of a horrible phobia I didn’t realize I still hung onto. Unfortunately, I used the standard, traditional model of removing a phobia called Desensitization, which is basically a terribly painful and long process of subjecting yourself to your fear over and over.  Though this method works, unless the true cause of the phobia is discovered, our systems will just create a new one in its place.  So, here are some tips to help you truly remove those tentacle-sucking, cocoon-encased phobias that are keeping you from shining the life you were meant to live…

Before you look at changing a phobia, you must look at the secondary gain or the positive intention of the phobia.  What are you wanting to get by having that phobia?

Are you wanting attention? Why?  Are you not feeling loved? Do you feel vulnerable?  Why?or Do you need to feel safe?  A phobia is an extreme anxiety of thinking the worst?  Do you surround yourself with images, words and scenarios of lack, limitation or powerlessness?

You could have 20 phobias with one single cause.  Finding your cause is about asking questions and going back in time.  “What is the best thing about not being loved?  What is the best thing about dying?  What is the best thing about being a failure?

Challenge yourself.  It’s time to face your deepest fear, because when you find it, you’ll realize that it’s all an illusion, that you’re living in an endless loop, whether that’s of not feeling safe, unwanted or unloved, but it’s all a false understanding of who you think you are, not who you truly are.  Phobias are the ego’s way of keeping you small and having power over you.  So begin to prove to yourself, with all the examples you can think of, just how much you’re loved, how great is your worth and how incredibly safe you are with your newfound knowledge of just how powerful you and this miraculous universe are.

Come dive into the mind-blowing world of freediving, learn about the universal fear of drowning and meet the sea lions who helped forever drown my phobia of being strangled… (click the title above to watch the video)

A huge thank you to Performance Freediving International and John Hullverson my instructor, whose patience, knowledge, skill and the safety I felt, helped me win my own internal battle.

And to everyone at Nimmo Bay Wilderness Resort, listed as one of the few National Geographic unique lodges of the world, who organized the class and gave us an unforgettable 5-star wilderness experience.  There’s nothing better than sloshing your way back home from a dive session to find an awaiting hot tub beside a breath-taking waterfall.  Glad to be part of the Broughton’s new diving gang.