Overcoming fears through the Force.

For a very long time, I have had a hospital induced fear of plasters! Yes, it sounds ridiculous, but allow me to explain.

I've had hundreds of operations on a birthmark on my face, And for all of them I've had to be put to sleep with anaesthetic. The way this is done is by having cream put on the back of your hands and a plaster put on top. They then wait about half an hour, and put the needle into a vein in the back of your hand, causing you to go to sleep painlessly.

However when I went to get my first operation at the age of 3, the plaster and the cream did not work. The needle was put into my hand, and all I felt was searing pain. To this day, I don't remember the cream, or the pain; all I remember is the plaster. And to this day, even though I know the reason behind it, I cannot stand plasters.

Going near them makes me jumpy, talking about them makes me nervous and touching them causes me to go into an overload of fear! Just thinking about them makes me itch the back of my hands where the plasters went, sometimes until they are red raw!

So this is what I want to know: the way of the Jedi is all about gaining focus, control and inner serenity. Can this be done with my phobia? Perhaps I can learn to overcome this fear, but I also realise that may not be possible; so if that's the case could I learn to live with the problem?

Also, has anyone had similar problems and overcome them; wether with the teachings of this temple, or elsewhere? Thanks in advance for you thoughts and suggestions.

In my experience, the best way to overcome this kind of fear is gradual exposure. This is used by psychologists to help minimize symptoms of PTSD when a person is triggered by something that reminds them of the trauma.

If you don't think it's severe enough to warrant being seen by a professional, you might want to look at exposure therapy that you can do at home, like this: http://www.calmclinic.com/anxiety/treatment/exposure-therapy

Of course, you can use your Jedi training to help you during this process for grounding, focus, and relaxation as you work on your exposure.

Good luck!

My experience with 'unreasonable' fears/reactions come from my childhood, abuse, and watching my 'mother'. I say that because I want you to understand that the source is different and my techniques are going to be different but Fear and I are long-time buddies so maybe there's something in my experience that can help you

My fears are so deeply seeded that I don't know where they come from most of the time. My first step is to watch for those unreasonable reactions and then to dig back to where they came from (so you're already ahead on that department! )

Once I understand where they come from, the technique tends to change depending on the situation. I tend to try and ease into doing the thing slowly. I usually bring my husband along, talk it out with him and my other friends and family. When I'm so deep in these fears, my compass is spinning and they help give me the perspective and solid ground I'm lacking.

(Now, mine are all anxiety based, but the doc I talked to said (as did Leah) that PTSD or similar trauma experiences are worked on with exposure therapy. Leah's link will probably explain it better but I do a form of it too for myself. so here's my experience )

Then I expose myself to these. I tend to use mantras to help me. Things like the Bene Gesserit Mantra Against Fear (Dune by Frank Herbert), the Jedi Code, or even "Just breathe, just breathe" haha. I'm stubborn so I'll rely on that too. "C'mon, dumdum...go do it" (I don't recommend calling yourself names ) I'll also connect with my Power Animal for strength and comfort. I don't know how you connect with the Force, but fill in with your own method I like using visuals so the last time I was in a situation where I was attempting to keep myself from panicking (getting a steroid shot into my hip with freakin' long needle!) I imagined a flower, ever opening, ever changing colors, and just focused on that. Lots of pedals, think like an 80s cartoon with the color shift hahaha. It helped for a bit. I'd lose it and get it back again. Focus on breathing.

The biggest thing though is to have compassion for yourself. It's a deep-seeded response, it's not gonna go away in one try. Become friends with Fear. Understand why she exists and what she does for you. Think of her like a young child. Logic is not her domain. Her purpose is to keep you safe, and she's doing her job well too well maybe haha. Tell her you understand why she's reacting the way she is, thank her for it, and ask her to take a step back.

For your reading pleasure (if you're interested ) I've had a few interesting perspectives on things like this and Fear in particular. A sermon I wrote "Slay Your Dragons...or..."

I also have several journeys where I speak with fears or other spirits about fear with some really interesting perspectives. But they're mostly in my apprentice journal and I'm short on time this exact moment. If you (anyone) think it will help you, please PM me and I'll gather them together for you and send them to you. They've really helped me.

Thank you Leah! You too Master kit! I shall certainly take your advice on board

I've been thinking about you Death, and wanted to explain to you something that helped me. Understanding why you go from something so innocent to such an extreme reaction.

So picture this, to get to this thread you can do a few things.

You can open up your web browser, type in www.templeofthejediorder.org, sign in, go to the Forum, Index, General Forum, Open Discussions then find this thread and click on it.

or

You can save it as a favorite.

Favorite is faster right?

What happens when you're faced with a big angry bear who's looking for lunch?

Does your brain go: Hey look! A bear! Let's see here...it's big, loud, has very large fangs and claws, and outweighs me by three or four times. I think it's dangerous. I think we should run. Let's move, legs!

No, it goes

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Your brain creates shortcuts from experiences. "Well, that was shitty, let's not do that again!" which is why you go from Plaster to "F- this". It's already had that experience. It already knows (thinks) it was dangerous. So it's just your brain trying to save your hide. For me, understanding this game me more compassion for myself and for Fear.

Here's a few of those references I mentioned earlier.

Litany Against Fear



One of my apprenticeship lessons was on fear ( Apprentices+ can click here for the whole thing or PM me and I'll send it) But I had decided to do a shamanic journey on the subject and here's the results of that.