One of our students told me that he was invited to speak at a banquet. He
said he was panic stricken at the thought of speaking before a thousand
people. He overcame his fear this way. For several night she sat down in
an armchair for about five minutes and said to himself slowly quietly and
positively, “I am going to master this fear. I am overcoming it now. I
speak with poise and confidence. I am relaxed and at ease.” He operated
a definite law of mind and overcame his fear.
The subconscious mind is amenable to suggestion and is controlled by
suggestion. When you still your mind and relax, the thoughts of your conscious mind sink down into the subconscious through a process similar to
osmosis, whereby fluids separated by a porous membrane intermingle. As
these positive seeds, or thoughts, sink into the subconscious are, they
grow after their kind and you become poised, serene and calm.
Is is said that fear is man’s greatest enemy. Fear is behind failure, sickness and poor human relations. Millions of people are afraid of the past,
the future, old age, insanity and death. Fear is a thought in you mind and
you are afraid of your own thoughts.
A little boy can be paralyzed with fear when he is told there is a boogie
man under his bed who is going to take him away. When his father turns
on the light and shows him there is no boogie man, he is freed from fear.
The fear in the mind of the boy was as real as if there really was a boogie
man there. He was healed of a false thought in his mind. The thing he
feared did not exist. Likewise, most of your fears have no reality. They are
merely a conglomeration of sinister shadows, and shadows have no reality.
Ralph Waldo Emerson, philosopher and poet, said, “Do the thing you are
afraid to do, and the death of fear is certain.” There was a time when the
writer of this chapter was filled with unutterable fear when standing before an audience. The way I overcame it was to stand before the audience, do the thing I was afraid to do, and the death of fear was certain.
When you affirm positively that you are going to master your fears, and
you come to a definite decision in your conscious mind, you release the
power of the subconscious which flows in response to the nature of your
thought.
A young lady was invited to an audition. She had been looking forward to the interview. However, on three previous occasions, she had failed miserably due to stage fright. She possessed a very good voice, but she was
certain that when the time came for her to sing, she would be seized with
state fright. The subconscious mind takes your fears as a request, proceeds to manifest them and then brings them into your experience. On
three previous auditions she sang wrong notes, and she finally broke
down and cried. The cause, as previously outlined, was an involuntary autosuggestion, i.e. a silent fear thought emotionalized and subjectified.
She overcame it by the following technique: Three times a day she isolated herself in a room. She sat down comfortably in an armchair, relaxed
her body and closed her eyes. She stilled her mind and body to the best
of her ability. Physical inertia favors passivity and renders the mind more
receptive to suggestion. She counteracted the fear suggestion by saying
to herself, “I sing beautifully, I am poised, serene, confident and calm.”
She repeated this statement slowly, quietly and with feeling from five to
ten times at each sitting. She had three such “sittings” every day and one
immediately prior to sleep. At the end of a week she was completely
poised and confident, and gave an outstanding audition. Carry out the
above procedure, and the death of fear is certain.
Occasionally young men from the local university come to see me, as well
as school teachers, who often seem to suffer from suggestive amnesia at
examinations. The complaint is always the same: “I know the answers after the examination is over, but I can’t remember the answers during the
examination.”
The idea which realizes itself, is the one to which we invariably give concentrated attention. I find that each one is obsessed with the idea of failure. Fear is behind the temporary amnesia, and it is the cause of the
whole experience.
One young medical student was the most brilliant person in his class, yet
he found himself failing to answer simple questions at the time of written
or oral examinations. I explained to him that the reason was he had been
worrying and was fearful for several days previous to the examination.
These negative thoughts became charged with fear.
Thoughts enveloped in the powerful emotion of fear are realized in the
subconscious mind. In other words, this young man was requesting his
subconscious mind to see to it that he failed, and that is exactly what it
did. On the day of the examination he found himself stricken with what is
called, in psychological circles, suggestive amnesia.
He learned that his subconscious mind was the storehouse of memory,
and that it had a perfect record of all he had heard and read during his
medical training. Moreover, he learned the the subconscious mind was responsive and reciprocal. The way to be en rapport with it was to be relaxed, peaceful and confident.
Every night and morning he began to imagine his mother congratulating
him on his wonderful record. He would hold an imaginary letter from her
in his hand. As he began to contemplate the happy result, he called forth
a corresponding or reciprocal response or reaction in himself. The all-wise
and omnipotent power of the subconscious took over, dictated, and directed his conscious mind accordingly. He imagined the end, thereby willing
the means to the realization of the end. Following this procedure, he had
no trouble passing subsequent examinations. In other words, the subjective wisdom took over, compelling him to give an excellent account of
himself.
There are many people who are afraid to go into an elevator, climb mountains, or even swim in the water. It may well be that the individual had
unpleasant experiences in the water in his youth, such as having been
thrown forcibly into the water without being able to swim. He might have
been forcibly detained in an elevator which failed to function properly,
causing resultant fear of closed places.
I had an experience when I as about ten years of age. I accidentally fell
into a pool and went down three times. I can still remember the dark water engulfing my heard, and my gasping for air until another boy pulled
me out at the last moment. This experience sank into my subconscious
mind and for years I feared the water.
An elderly psychologist said to me, “Go down to the swimming pool, look
at the water, and say out loud in strong tones, ‘I am going to master you,
I can dominate you.’ Then go into the water, take lessons and overcome
it.” This I did, and I mastered the water. Do not permit water to master
you. Remember you are the master of the water.
When I assumed a new attitude of mind, the omnipotent power of the
subconscious responded, giving me strength, faith and confidence and enabling me to overcome my fear.
The following is a process and technique for overcoming fear which I
teach from the platform. It works like a charm. Try it!
Suppose you are afraid of the water, a mountain, an interview, an audition, or you fear closed places. If you are afraid of swimming, begin now to sit still for five or ten minutes three or four times a day, and imagine
you are swimming. Actually, you are swimming in your mind. It is a subjective experience. Mentally you have projected yourself into the water.
You feel the chill of the water and the moment of your arms and legs. It is
all real, vivid and a joyous activity of the mind. It is not idle daydreaming,
for you know that what you are experiencing in your imagination will be
developed in your subconscious mind. Then you will be compelled to express the image and likeness of the picture you impressed on your deeper
mind. This is the law of the subconscious.
You could apply the same technique if you are afraid of mountains or high
places. Imagine you are climbing the mountain, feel the reality of it all,
enjoy the scenery, knowing that as you continue to do this mentally, you
will do it physically with ease and comfort.