I used to be very uncomfortable speaking in public. When I would go do talks on aromatherapy or massage at the women’s shelters or at health fairs my heart would all be a twitter, my voice thin and crackly and I would usually end up with a migraine from the tension. Then one day as I was dreading doing a speech that day, I realized, wow, how silly, I know how to
get rid of this! I remembered my NLP training from my hypnotherapy training. So, as I was walking my dogs down a lonely road I did NLP on myself. It is an easy but very affective way of letting go of any fear but also breaking any negative or non productive thought or behavior pattern.FEARS AND UNWANTED BEHAVIORS AND REACTIONS – TRIGGERS
There are times when fear is healthy. When you see a big wave rolling in on the horizon it is
a good thing to have fear to move your feet. However, sometimes we find ourselves crippled by unfounded fears that limit our world and how we react in that world. There are also automatic
behaviors or habits that are harmful to us and we wish to eliminate them from our lives. Then there is the pain in the rear boss, in-law, or village snoop that just pushes our buttons that cause anger, fear, or irritation and we could all use less of that in our lives. Neural lingual programming works by repetition to erase the initial automatic response from your brain, by playing it over and over again until it no longer has the drama or trauma that it once invoked. That button or trigger in your brain will disconnect and you will be free of that fear or behavior. It’s a miracle and we use it a lot, so give it a go and be free of fear.

NEURAL LINGUAL PROGRAMMING
You need to get in a relaxed state preferably laying down in a darkened room with the phone off the hook. A hot bath might work well too. Try some alternate breathing or other relaxing techniques from the Stress Reduction section in this book to help you relax. First you need to name the fear or behavior you want to get rid of. Think of all it’s components. If you are afraid of snakes, are you afraid of where they hide, how their skins might feel, their bite, how they look, smell, the way they hiss, what exactly makes you afraid? Dredge up every little nuance, memories, knowledge fact or fiction, think of everything about that fear or behavior that comes to mind. Now in your mind’s eye create a short black and white movie of the worse case scenario of your fear or inappropriate behavior. For example, if you want to let go of smoking you might imagine yourself in the middle of the Pacific ocean in a hurricane with no cigarettes. If you fear cockroaches imagine waking up to a bed full of the creepy crawlies and not being able to move. Really dig down deep and create your own personal horror story. Bring in sounds, smells, other people’s attitudes and reactions, everything that you can think of that has any thing to do with what it is that you wish to eliminate.

Now that you have it all together play it from beginning to end in black and white. When that’s done, play it again. And again, and again. You are going to keep playing this black and white horror movie over and over again until it starts to change and it will. New things might be brought in, your feelings may change toward the object or your actions might change. You need to repeat this over and over again until it is either so boring you can’t even bring it into focus anymore or it has become hilariously funny. Boredom and comedy or the marks that the fear or behavior no longer has the same automatic response as it once did. Play it again two or three more times just to make sure it isn’t producing any negative thoughts or reactions. Now take what movie you have left and turn it into a full color cartoon and then play it backwards ten times. Make the first playback last ten seconds, the second one nine seconds and so on until the last play back is just one second long and then it will be gone. And so will your fear or automatic behavior response. Sound too easy? It may be, but it works. There is the one caveat of this procedure. Sometimes when you conquer your fear of whatever it might be, you may become enthralled or intrigued by what it was that you use to be afraid of. I now have to be dragged off the soap box once I have got a crowd to speak to. If for some reason this doesn’t give you the results you want you may have too broad of a topic, try to get more specific and try again and again.

I find this therapy really works well with how people perceive themselves such as with body images for eating disorders, or problems with work or people who push your buttons. A good follow up for this is to remain lying on the bed or in the bath and think of a comical way of looking at your once uncomfortable fear or behavior. Say, if you were afraid of your boss, imagine them tap dancing naked with a bowl of spaghetti dumped over their heads. Be creative but put it in a light whimsical mind image and you will most likely never be bothered by that
trigger again.