Back to: Day 14 – Journaling

You’ve made it to the heart of this course. Everything you’ve done up until now has been to prepare you for this: fear.

Today, you’re easing in with a journaling exercise. So get out your journal and find somewhere comfortable to sit where no one will bother you. 

Fear is what triggers the reptilian brain – our fight or flight response. We developed these responses as a way to cope with encountering predators that were threatening us bodily harm. In modern day, we rarely have life-threatening encounters, yet the reptilian brain still exists and is triggered by stress. It doesn’t distinguish the difference between our safety being threatened by a bear or by an empty bank account.

As a result, the things that cause us stress cause us to fight (get angry), flight (avoid), freeze, or fawn (people-please). We don’t act rationally, or maybe we don’t act at all.

Think about a time when you really wanted to do something, but you didn’t do it out of fear. What did you want to do? How did it feel when fear took over? Did your fear cause you to behave irrationally, did it cause you to freeze, or something else? Tell the story. Relive the experience, the fear, the disappointment or shame. Set a timer for 10 minutes, and go. (Journaling playlist)

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Wow.

First of all, take a moment and recognize how much courage it just took for you to relive that experience. It’s not easy. Most people would have quit.

Here is a practice to regulate your nervous system after that exercise. Place your right hand on your belly, and your left hand on your chest. Acknowledge that that experience happened in the past, and accept that there is nothing that can be changed now. Release your attachment to this story. Keeping this in mind, close your eyes and take 10 deep breaths. Inhale through your nose, exhale through your mouth. With each inhale, say in your mind, I am no longer in danger. With each exhale, say in your mind, I release this.